Soldier who saw action in World War II passes away at 102

Col. Biddanda M Chengappa, 102, a soldier who saw action during WWII in Burma against the Japanese, passed away at his son's home in Ahmedabad. His son BC Mandappa told DNA that the centenarian was not ailing. "He was very lucid in the morning and went on with his routine of having breakfast, reading newspapers, and tracking post-Pulwama attack etc. He had his lunch and went for an afternoon siesta."

He further recounts how his father fondly recalled his time in Burma. "He was only 24 when he joined the Army in 1941, soon after being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and packed off to battlefront during World War II. The war was at India's doorsteps in Burma as the Japanese were advancing. Second Lt Chengappa was in the Indian brigade deployed to stop the Japanese." Along with a dozen newly commissioned officers, he was sent with a shipload of soldiers to Rangoon where they lacked both equipment and experience to take on the fierce enemy, recalls the family.

"While the British superiors on the Eastern Front were a bunch of inefficient lot preoccupied with own comforts, Second Lt Chengappa and the other Indians were sent to the enemy line where before his own eyes he watched two fellow Coorgs fall to the Japanese followed in quick succession by Indians," says Mandappa.

Within a week, only 20 survivors remained and were sent orders to retreat from the thick forests in northern Burma where they were stationed. "My father and 19 others somehow managed to hitch a ride on to a truck carrying kerosene supplies for some distance. As bullets flew around everybody prayed and hung on for dear life as even one small spark would have turned the truck into a flaming death trap," he recalls.

Later the group began walking through the forest for Kohima in Nagaland. The lone Burmese army officer guided them through the forest, where away from the enemy at night the tired men fell asleep under the trees. "But Second Lt Chengappa's troubles were far from over. He woke to a searing pain in his leg to find a snake had bitten him. All the men had was some first-aid and he thought he would breathe his last there," recounts Mandappa.

Meanwhile, back in Palangala, Coorg (in today's K'taka) his parents had been told their son was missing in action. "With no news for more than a month, they feared the worst."

Soon promoted as Major, he served in Gaza during late 1950s as part of UN Peacekeeping Force. Married to Sheila from the Codanda family, he has three sons and retired as a Colonel and settled in Coorg.

A passionate golfer, he played well into his late 90s and was happy to drive his car till a few years later, they recall.