Southern Naval Command bids adieu to Victory Flame

KOCHI: The Victory Flame, lit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to commemorate the 50th anniversary of 1971 War, was taken to Thiruvananthapuram from the Kochi Naval Base on completion of various events held at the Southern Naval Command (SNC) over the last three months.
The Victory Flame, which reached Kochi on 23 March, was lit by PM Modi at the National War Memorial, New Delhi on 16 December 2019.
Since then it has travelled in four cardinal directions of defence commands in the country commemorating the ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’, i.e. completion of 50 years of Bangladesh war.
The extraction ceremony of the flame was held at the War Memorial inside Kochi Naval Base on Friday. Vice Admiral AK Chawla, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, SNC bid adieu to the Victory Flame with a Ceremonial Guard.
The flame was handed over to Captain Samuel Lalthanmawia from 91 Infantry Brigade (Trivandrum) with full military honors for further movement across the Southern districts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The flame reached Kochi traveling a distance of around 3000 kms across the country. It was received by Cmde NAJ Joseph, Commanding Officer, INS Venduruthy and the Insertion Ceremony at War Memorial was conducted on 24 March. Later it was taken to the residences of war gallantry awardees in and around Kochi.
The Victory Flame was also taken to residences of widows of the martyrs of the 1971 war. As a part of Swarnim Vijay Varsh celebration, an interaction with NCC cadets was also conducted at Sagarika, the Naval Auditorium, wherein two hundred NCC Cadets from various NCC units across Ernakulam attended.
It was also taken to two schools in Kochi accompanied by an army relay team and naval band. Visits to other schools were cancelled due to the pandemic. The flame was then taken to INS Dronachrya at Fort Kochi, received by the Commanding Officer, INS Dronacharya with full military honors.
Victory Flame was carried to several islands in Lakshadweep Islands in early April and visited the residences of war veterans there. It was later brought back to Kochi.