Subedar YesudasanPalakkad: Retired Subedar Basil Yesudasan, the gunner who destroyed two Pakistani bomber aircraft on the way to Amritsar during the 1965 war, died at his house at Puthuppallitheruvu in Palakkad. The Vir Chakra recipient was aged 80.
Yesudasan's claim to fame was his daring defense of Indian Army's signaling system installed near the Amritsar airport.
The war with Pakistan was at its peak. The team leader and his men were looking for any sign of threat when they got word that two Pakistani aircraft were fast approaching the vital signaling system. The team was ready. They shot down the first aircraft as soon as it entered their range. Another fighter followed half an hour later. That was gunned down too.
Two months later, when Yesudasan came home on vacation, he was greeted by a huge gathering at the Thrissur railway station.
You can still see the plaque installed at the railway station in honor of his service to the country. The marble plaque has Yesudasan’s name and the distance to his ancestral house at Kunnamkulam inscribed on it.
Yesudasan retired in 1986 as Subedar-Assistant Instructor of Gunnery. He is survived by wife Dotti Bridgeta and sons Ashley and Sijeev.
