AFVOA Newletters of Year 2008

Page 24 of 56 Nadu Branch of the Ai r Force Associ at ion as the liai son of ficer. He then became the Founder President of the Tambaram Chapt er of the AFA. 12. On that evening he came accompani ed by hi s wife Mrs Narayanan, his son Capt N Rameshwar Ravi, IN a member of our associat ion, his daught er-in- law Mrs Lakshmi Ravi , hi s daught er Mrs Lalitha Mohandas who actively parti cipat es in all our event s and his son-in-l aw Gp Capt LV Mohandas , VSM one of our oldes t members. 13. Wg Cdr Narayanan now l eads a tot ally ret ired li fe but he keeps his doors always open to erstwhil e comrades in arms and thei r famili es. Any one who visits AF Station Tambaram makes it a point to call on this elderly Ai r War rior. 14. When he walked up to address the audience he exhibit ed a sprightliness whi ch bel ied his age. In a br ief t alk he recounted the highlights of hi s career both in uni form and aft er reti rement. He thanked the associ ation for honour ing him and wi shed every one a long healthy and prosperous l ife. Honouring the Chief Guest 15. The Chi ef Guest of the evening Lt Gen Nobl e Thamburaj, SM, arr ived at 1915 hrs. On arrival he met and shook hands with as many vet erans as possible before assuming his seat on the st age. 16. Introduction of the Chief Guest. The Secret ary who i s a cl ass mat e of hi s f rom Sainik School , Amaravathi Nagar took great pl easure in welcoming him and introducing him to the assemblage. 17. Lieutenant General Nobl e Thamburaj, Sena Medal, a 1969 bat ch of ficer, has a truly distingui shed career spanning 38 years . Born in Coimbatore, this General Offi cer has been associat ed with the Servi ces right f rom childhood. This second generation offi cer i s an alumnus of King George’s Milit ary School Chail , Sainik School Amravati Nagar (Tami l Nadu), and the 34 t h National Defence Academy Course, before he was commissioned into the Bombay Sappers. 18. An alumnus of Defence Services Staf f College, Wel lington, the General has done his Senior Command, Higher Command and Nat ional Defence College Courses . He is al so accredit ed with higher Tech qualifi cations, M Tech (Building Sci ence) f rom IIT Delhi and M Phil (Defence Studi es ) f rom Indore Universi ty, to his name. 19. During his illust rious career the General has held many impor tant assignment s to include a Brigade Major of a Mount ain Brigade, command of 411 Parachut e Fi eld Company, command of his parent unit 109 Engineer Regiment in High Al titude Area in the East ern region and was inst rument al in its conversion to a RAPID, (S) Engineer Regiment in the pl ains . The General holds the unique dis tinct ion of being the only Sapper Offi cer to command a Rasht riya Ri fl e Sector success fully in int ense Count er Insurgency environment during ‘OP VIJAY’ and an Infantry Divi sion during ‘OP PARAKRAM’ in the deserts. For hi s dis tingui shed servi ce, the General has been awarded Sena Medal and Chi ef of the Army St af f Commendation Card twi ce in hi s career. Besides , he has been an instructor in Defence Services Staff Coll ege, Wellington and Of f icers Training Academy, Chennai. A para t rooper, the General sti ll participat es in the para drops whenever oppor tunity comes hi s