Brigadier Lidder's wife Geetika was in tears as she knelt by the head of her husband's coffin, which was draped with the national flag and decked with flowers. Daughter Aashana was by her mother's side, fighting back tears of her own while paying her homage to her father.
Brigadier Lidder's wife and daughter pay homage to a soldier who will always be remembered, never forgotten.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday visited the Palam airbase in New Delhi and paid his last respects to Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and other 11 armed force personnel who lost their lives in a chopper crash in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
Major Prafulla Menezes (retd), Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh's wife, and young daughter Preet Kaur pay homage to a husband and father, whose services to the motherland, will always be remembered, never forgotten.
The chopper took off at 11.48 am from the Sulur Air Base and was reported to be missing at around 12.22 pm, sources informed.
General Bipin Rawat was given the guideline by the prime minister to achieve the integration of the three forces by the 75th year of India's Independence. This should be carried forward with utmost speed.
It's been a year since a helicopter crash in the Nilgiris tragically took away India's first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 10 other military officers and personnel.
Bipin was the brightest among our coursemates and went on to become the first CDS of the country. I believe that all those who have known him and Madhulika will miss them very much, observes Lieutenant General Himalaya Singh (retd).
The IAF said that Gen Rawat, his wife and 11 other persons died in accident.
'These ladies have sacrificed their husbands so that you can celebrate your birthday parties and anniversaries.' 'It is your moral duty to treat them right and with respect.' 'When they visit a bank or a hospital, they should not be made to stand in queue, but treated like Presidents or prime ministers.'
The armed forces personnel whose bodies were identified in the last few hours are Junior Warrant Officer (JWO) Pradeep, Wing Commander P S Chauhan, JWO Rana Pratap Das, Lance Naik B Sai Teja and Lance Naik Vivek Kumar.
The plaintive strains of bugles sounding the last post broke through the hush, men in uniform clicked their heels and a 17-gun salute rang out as Gen Bipin Rawat and his wife were cremated on Friday evening -- the sun setting on a day written into India's military history and on the life of its most senior military officer.
'The accident was a result of entry into clouds due to unexpected change in weather conditions in the valley. This led to spatial disorientation of the pilot resulting in Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT),' it stated.
In the video clip, Gen Rawat paid glowing tributes to the Indian armed forces personnel killed in the 1971 war with Pakistan and appealed to the citizens to join the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the victory.
Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and Air Marshal Manvendra Singh who headed the tri-service investigation into the crash apprised Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the findings of the probe on Wednesday.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others were killed when an Indian Air Force helicopter carrying them crashed on Wednesday near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu in apparently foggy conditions, killing 13 people on board, the IAF and other officials said.
To ensure the morale of the pilots does not suffer, flying activity continues without a pause. Pilots take to the sky like they would on any other day.
