Soldiers’ memorial, built by the people, unveiled by the Supreme Commander

Names of 8,500 martyrs from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal, etched in gold lettering on black granite walls, glinted in the sunlight as the Supreme Commander walked past them.

Calling it a historic occasion, Kalam said that the memorial, a people’s initiative led by The Indian Express, “will be a constant reminder of the great sacrifices made by brave soldiers in 13 operations since Independence.”

The President, who had in his inimitable way intervened in this initiative by asking The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief and CEO Shekhar Gupta to collect funds for war widows as well, said the nation should work to ensure it’s invulnerable to invasions by land, sea, air, and in future, from space as well.

Calling the memorial an institution, Gupta said it linked the past with the present, and also the future since part of the walls had been kept empty to display names of those who will sacrifice their lives for the nation.

Although the dais had a distinguished line-up of the political cream of the region—present on the occasion were two Chief Ministers, three Governors and a Deputy CM—it was the day of the soldier.

Lt Gen J F R Jacob (retd), a 1971 war hero and former Chandigarh administrator who had conceived the idea of the memorial, delivered a stirring reminder to the President: “I look upon you as the Supreme Commander of the armed forces and I speak to you as an old soldier.”

And speak he did like a soldier, recalling how when he was serving, all his troops came from the erstwhile united Punjab. Many of them had now found place on the granite walls of the memorial designed by two young students of the Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA).

“I wanted the freshness of the youth in the memorial,” said Jacob, calling it a Shaandaar Yaadgaar.

Saluting the martyrs, Gen S F Rodrigues (retd), Chandigarh administrator and a former Army chief, said what made these men special was that...