Soldier's body found 40 yrs after he died in plane crash

Sivasagar (Assam): For Jatin Phukon, the real pain of losing his youngest brother almost four decades ago will come only now.

Twenty-year-old soldier Mahendra Nath Phukon died in a plane crash in Himachal Pradesh in 1968, and lay there until an expedition team stumbled on the body early this month. And his body comes back home after 40 years coming week.

"It seems like a dream. I am happy and yet I am sad. I am waiting to face reality,” says Jatin.

"He came for my wedding in 1967. He went back and never returned,” says another brother, Tuben Phukon.

In all these years a lot has changed in the village where the Phukon family lives. What however, remains constant for the Phukons is their relation with the Indian army.

Mahendra Nath's brother Tuben retired in 1985 and all the brothers have sons serving as soldiers in different corners of India.

The first in the family was of course Mahendra Nath, who joined the army in 1965. However the Phukon family, apart from the house doesn’t even have a photograph in his memory.

Forty years is a time long enough for tears to dry up and for the mind to forget many things. But for Mahendra Nath’s brothers, the real pain of losing one of their own almost four decades back is coming only now.

The brothers organised a symbolic funeral once the news came. They are undecided about the final date of the last rites and now for the family. And for them, this final wait for the body to arrive seems to be the toughest.