The army veterans belonging to the 33 Regular (24 NDA), 3 OTG, SSRC, Emergency Commission Course celebrated their golden jubilee reunion at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) on Friday. Twenty veterans accompanied by their spouses are attending the two day programme at IMA Dehradun. On February 9, 1964, a total 1,192 cadets passed out from IMA and became officers of the Indian Army.
The ceremony began with wreath laying at the war memorial which is a mark of solidarity towards officers of the tri services. Air commodore Peter Pinto laid the wreath on the war memorial on behalf of the course to pay respect to their brave comrades who have laid down their lives during the two wars of 1965 and 1974 and in various other battles against enemy forces in Kargil, Nathu La and Cho La.
The officers came from all corners of the country and recalled the days spent in IMA that inculcated the finest qualities of leadership in them. The course has numerous achievements, honours and awards for bravery and distinguished service to its credit.
Lieutenant general (retd) TS Shergil who was posted as commandant of IMA from 2001 to 2003 was also commissioned with this course and was present in the reunion event. He said that this was one of the rare courses to have passed out in the month of February and it was his privilege to command the passing out parade of 1,192 officers on February 9, 1964.
The IMA commandant lieutenant general Sandeep Jain met the veterans over tea, where he and other officers posted at IMA got an opportunity to interact with the veterans and listen to their war episodes and stories.
