Indian World War II hero's medals to be brought back home after IAF buys them

New Delhi: World War II veteran Wing Commander Karun Krishna ‘Jumbo’ Majumdar’s Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and bar will soon return to India, an officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF), which has bought the medals from a Britain-based auction house, said on Monday.

Wg. Cdr. Majumdar, a daredevil fighter pilot, was the first Indian officer to be awarded the DFC and the only Indian to get a bar to the medal.

He was killed on February 17, 1945 when his Hawker Hurricane stalled and crashed during an air show in Lyallpur.

The medals were bought for around 31,000 pounds (around Rs.30 Lakhs), made available by the IAF from its its internal funds after the process to get the amount from defence ministry resulted in almost losing the medals.

According to the IAF officer, the medals are presently with Indian High Commission’s Air Attache in London and will be soon brought to India.

“We are working on the plan to bring the medals back. They are presently with the Air Attache in London,” the officer told IANS.

The medals were put up for auction by Majumdar’s son, who reportedly said he wanted them to “go to a serious collector”.

The medals on auction included Wg. Cdr. Majumdar’s Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and the Indian General Service Meddal awarded to him by the British government in the 1940s before India’s independence.

However at an auction in November last year, the medals could not be sold as the reserve price for them was 20,000 to 30,000 pounds, but the highest bid received was in the region of 16,000 pounds.

Later the IAF had entered into an agreement with London-based auction house Morton and Eden that it would internally raise the funds to buy the medals.

IANS