AFVOA Newletters of Year 2003

Page 152 of 170 and provisioning of signals communication in Assam State during his secondment as Police Wireless Officer (In the rank of Major) during 1955-57. This involved his organising the retrieval and cannibalisation of US Army discarded war surplus stores from Calcutta to set up an effective communication link. After a distinguished and honourable career in the Army, he retired in December 1971, and was re-employed for 8 long years in the R and A Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat at New Delhi. 18. Col Gangadharan said that his advice to all would be that hard work coupled with a tension free mind paid rich dividends. He and Mrs Swarnam Gangadharan live at Warren Road, Mylapore, and may be contacted on tele: 2493 6356. He has two sons and a daughter. The elder son, Rudhra, is serving as the Principal Secretary, Forests, in the Kerala Government at Trivandrum. Dr (Mrs) Shuba Kumar, the daughter is a social scientist and manager with IndiaCLEN, Chennai. The other son, (twin of Shuba) named Surya, is with Sahara TV at Delhi. Wg Cdr CB Amarendra (1689), Flying (Observer) 19. Born on 11 February 1922 at Madras, Chingalpet Balakrishria Amarendra was awarded the King’s Commission into the then Royal Indian Air Force on 05 Mar 1941. When young, he played in the RAF hockey team (1943). He served all over, as befits an aircrew, in the UK, in the SEAC (South East Asia Command), and at various stations in undivided and post partition India. He remembers flying into India the thousands of POWS from various theatres of the Second World War, while serving in 204 and 205 Squadrons, RAF, which were equipped with Shorts Sunderland flying boats. His progress in his flying career was stymied by an unfortunate and serious accident that he was involved in the year 1949. Nevertheless, he had a distinguished career, his considerable talents being put to use as Deputy Director of the Rehabilitation Directorate, as DD Personal Services, and as DD, Works. He was responsible for obtaining sanction for projects such as Air Force Stations, Agra and Barrackpore, the Explosives Unit at Jabalpore, and for acquiring 4400 acres of land at TILPAT near Delhi, which then became the site of the IAF Bombing Range. (Tilpat it was where the FIRST FIRE POWER DEMONSTRATION was held in 1954, when the IAF came of age). He remembers with pleasure meeting HM King George VI, Jawaharlal Nehru, HM Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh (at Tambaram), President Neguib (the then Egyptian President, also at Tambaram), and Emperor Haile Selassie and Marshal Tito (both whilst at Bangalore). The most depressing moments of his service career were spent in the trenches at Tawai in Burma, when the Japanese rained bombs continuously for four days, and later, in the UK in 1944, when the V1 “Flying Bombs” were making life in London just that bit more difficult, and while serving under an officer who was his junior at Technical Training College, Jalahalli, Bangalore. On the flip side, the most memorable ones were in taking part in the bombing of the tribal areas of the then NWFP in support of the Royal and the Indian Armies in 1942, in the heavy bombing of Sumatra in 1946 (undertaken in support of the Indian Army, driving away the Japanese occupation forces). After retirement in 1972, Wg Cdr Amarendra worked as the Gen Mgr of the Vummidiars Shopping Centre on Mount Road (1975-77), as Chief Exec of the Child’s Trust Hospital (1979-83). 20. Wg Cdr Amarendra and Mrs Saraswati Amarendra reside at Kilpauk, and may be contacted on tele: 2644 7690. Their married daughter Mrs Anuradha is a Deputy Manager with Trade Wings at Secunderabad. Wg Cdr Amarendra’s advice is for all of us to be loyal to the Country, to be good citizens, and to give of our best to the Motherland. Lt Col SJS Rajamanikkam (IC 2634), The Jat Regiment 21. Lt Col Sydney Jones Scudder Rajamanikkam of the Jat Regiment was born in