AFVOA Newletters of Year 2013

Page 35 of 61 from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, to be commissioned into the Battalion. Later, he had the proud privilege of commanding the same battalion, through counterinsurgency operations in Nagaland, which resulted in his unit surrounding the dreaded terrorist Naga leader MOWU ANGAMI. During the 1971 operations, he successfully led the battalion in the operations in the HILLI sector of East Pakistan. Thereafter, on promotion, he commanded a Brigade in Madhya Pradesh and another in Mizoram. He had a stint as Sub Area Cdr Bangalore and finally a very short home posting for 3 months as the Dy GOC of ATNK&KArea before he sought voluntary retirement in Dec 1983. Brig Swaminathan is married to Smt Vasanthi. They have three children. Col S Raman Col S Raman was born on 29 Jan 1932 in Thanjavur District. He graduated with Honours in Mechanical Engineering from Government Engineering College, Jabalpur. He was commissioned into the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers on 9 Jun 1957. His first posting was as OIC AWD in 19 Inf Div in the Kashmir Valley. This was followed by eleven other postings in a span of about 26 years which included command of an EME Battalion. His final posting was as Project Manager (Armt and Vehs) in the Department of Defence Production and Supplies, Ministry of Defence. Col Raman retired on 31 Jan 1984. Post retirement he held an impressive array of appointments in the private sector. In the last ten years of post retirement service he worked with the two Maruti dealerships in Chennai. At ABT Maruti, Col Raman was instrumental in the workshop being rated as All India No 1 Service Workshop. For this achievement, Col Raman was rewarded by Maruti Udyog Ltd with a week long holiday in Switzerland. In the last three years of active life, Col Raman was associated with institutions for special children. Col Raman is married to Smt Mangalam. They have one son and one grandson. Col SR Raju Col SR Raju was born on 06 Jun 1932. He was commissioned into the Corps of Signals on 03 Mar 1966. He held a variety of appointments in his Corps and retired on 30 Jan 1987. On retirement he accepted the job of Honorary Warden International Youth Hostel, Chennai, appointed by the Central Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. He served on this job for 21 years. He was one of the founder members of our Association and he made available the facilities at the Youth Hostel for holding the bi-monthly meetings of the Association for twelve long years. Col Raju has been a public spirited individual, starting free yoga classes ar the Youth Hostel, supporting visually-impaired students through ladies’ help at the Youth Hostel. Planting 400 trees and providing tree guards in Indira Nagar was another of his schemes. His concern for the environments resulted in his being publicly honoured by Exnora International. Col Raju is married to Smt Lalitha. They have two daughters and two grand daughters.. TALK ON ISRAEL Sri Anand Narasimhan was the guest of the morning and he kindly consented to speak about some of the interesting facets of Israel. He heads a multi-national operation out of India and Israel and has been closely associated with that country in many dimensions for many years. His professional work has given him a rare insight into the country and its people. Speaking with the help of computer slides, he gave an interesting presentation on the relationship that India has with Israel in the field of military hardware, high technology, commerce and agriculture. His short but effective talk was well received and the number of