War Memorial

The 21 gun salute reverberated across the Parade Grounds in the city of Cochin as a honor guard composed of all combat wings of Royal Cochin Defense Forces, fired off their guns in unison to mark the start of the ceremony.

In the chilly morning of this somber day the King of Cochin, his cabinet secretaries and the military chiefs of staff were standing in attention as they were paying tributes to the fallen warriors who gave Cochin its freedom and integrity.

In the center of the Parade Ground a Grey silk shroud covered a massive monument. Once the guns were silent The King and the service chiefs marched towards the shroud to the beats of the King's Guards band which was playing the National Anthem.

As the procession came to a halt so did the band.

The King reached up and pulled the shroud off.

And thus the National War Memorial was formally submitted to the nation.

The massive granite obelisk was engraved with the names of the nearly 300,000 soldiers who had died in service of the Kingdom. More than half of them had died in offensive warfare and that was the burden upon the shoulders of the King. As a young officer in the armored corps of the nation Rama Varma had personally seen the horrors and futility of war. Thus while drawing and shedding blood in defense of the Kingdom under the reign of his uncle, the previous monarch, Rama Varma had sworn that never again shall Cochin be expansionist in nature.

Today he had the chance to finally put his horrors at ease. The names of his comrades from Echo company went through his mind also the the ghastly images of a tank burning and the sight of a young man desperately trying and failing to climb out of the hatch of a stricken tank while being devoured by flames from a sea of burning diesel and dismembered by shrapnel from exploding ordinance. 

He could still remember sharply the final image of the young Peter looking at his Commander before the tank finally exploded in a fountain of flames.

Tonight he had a chance to lay his old nightmares to rest.

Also looking at the monument with an unfocused eye was his elder cousin and the commander of his regiment during the war, now Commander of Royal Cochin Defense Forces, Gen. Mahesh Varma. He too was remembering the voices and faces of people long dead.

This was the least a grateful Kingdom and its King could do for the glorious martyrs who laid down their life in the line of duty.

As the King and his generals walked back to their vehicles tears were shed ,some solemnly , some copiously, but not an eye was dry.

Vice Adm. KP Marakkar was remembering the groan of a hundred sailors drowning to death in a sunken destroyer which his submarine had torpedoed. As the Captain of his attack submarine he had listened to the sonar while his enemy was sinking. The sounds of strangling emanating from a hundred young extinguished lives had reminded him that no, war is never acceptable. He proceeded to sink more ships as the CO of his submarine and later as CO of the submarine squadron but he never forgot the gravity of actions he was doing.

Air Vice Marshal Praveen Kumar was remembering the fateful May Day when he led his squadron of fighters against the deadline enemy aerial blitzkrieg. He could remember the shrieks of his wingman Bronco who was shredded in his seat by Vulcan gunfire. Nor could he forget the bleeding face of his Navigator Jumper while they ejected as a desperate missile shot by a dead fighter homed in on their engines and blew merely yards away from their wings. Jumper was his best friend and was eager to meet his young daughter who was born merely day ago. He never saw his daughter.

The senior enlisted personnel who stood guard at the Memorial understood and were grateful for the tears of their commanders. They too had known the horrors of war and were glad to see that their commanders and King understood it as well. 

The King shook hands with the Command Sergeant Majors and Chief Boatswain's Mates from all services who comprised the Memorial Guard and with a sad but lightened heart returned to the Palace.