News, both of war and peace, from the Korean peninsula always reminds Dr Parvathi Mohan of her parents. The American doctor’s Kerala-born parents were laid to rest on a green hillock in a South Korean village, close to the border with North Korea. Their tragic story is akin to the plot of a novel high on intense emotion.
Colonel M K Unni Nair, a commissioned officer in the Maratha Light Infantry, went to South Korea as part of a team of UN observers amid the Korean War. A member of the Manaykkambatt family of Parali near Palakkad, he died in a mine blast on August 12, 1950. The blast also killed two war correspondents.
The colonel’s body could not be sent back to India amid the raging war. He was cremated in the hill range near Daegu. The provincial government built a memorial for the soldier on the site. The tribute is a national monument now. When Unni Nair’s wife died years later, her ashes were flown in to be interred in the monument.
Nair is the only Indian to die in the Korean War. His name and biography are inscribed on a pillar on the way to the memorial. The South Korean government maintains this place as a national memorial that epitomises its ties with India. The colonel’s name also features in a monument erected by the Korean Journalist Association in the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas.
Across the seas
The colonel’s wife, Dr Vimala Nair, first visited the memorial in 1967. She went there several times after that, accompanied by Indian diplomats and her family members. Her marriage was short but memories were eternal.
Dr Vimala Nair and Dr Parvathi Mohan at the Indian embassy in USA, while attending an event organised in year 2000 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Korean War.Her devotion to her husband prompted the local authorities to renovate the monument and pay tribute to the fallen hero every year. In 2003, the South Korean ministry declared the place a national monument.
Dr Parvathi Mohan was only two years old when her father died. She grew up hearing stories about her father's exploits. She accompanied her mother to South Korea in 1974. She returned in 2012, carrying her mother’s ashes.
Dr Vimala Nair, a reputed gynaecologist in Thrissur, had only one wish when she died: To be with her husband from now on. She was 94 when she died. The visit moved Dr Parvathi. She realised that her father was being treated as a hero by the Koreans. She left behind a photo of her father in military uniform with her mother by his side.
Adventures of a lifetime
Colonel Nair was a born adventurer. His daredevil acts in visiting disaster zones and reporting from there catapulted him to the top. The same trait proved his nemesis in South Korea.
Colonel Nair was born to Narayanamangalam Damodaran Namboodiri and Manaykkambatt Ammu Kutty on April 22, 1911 at Parali. After preliminary education, he went to the Madras Christian College to earn an honours degree in literature.
He joined the satirical ‘The Merry Magazine’ in Madras (now Chennai). He continued contributing to the magazine even after he found a regular job with ‘The Mail’ newspaper. He presented everyday life with a coat of humour in his column titled ‘The Story of My Life’.
His film reviews in various Indian publications were noted. He even wrote a book on life in Kerala’s Malabar region, titled ‘My Malabar’. He was working with the ‘Statesman’ when he was commissioned to the Indian Army Reserve of Officers.
On dangerous terrain
Unni Nair rose up the ranks in a short period. He was elevated to the rank of a colonel and tasked with the responsibility of preparing reports for the army from the battlefronts. When the Second World War broke out, he was commissioned into the Maratha Light Infantry and sent to Burma (now Myanmar).
The memorial built for Unni NairHe traversed through the treacherous tropical forests along with the soldiers to gather first-hand accounts of the war. He settled anywhere in the war zone and punched the horrors of war into his portable typewriter.
He travelled with the Indian Army to many places, including Italy. After Independence, he was appointed as an information officer of the armed forces. He continued to visit strife-torn areas to prepare official reports.
He was serving as a public relations officer in the Indian embassy in Washington D C when the Korean War broke out. He bade his wife and daughter good bye and flew to South Korea. The adventure in him could not resist the call of the battlefield.
Colonel Nair died at the age of 39, along with British journalist Christopher Buckley and Australian journalist Ian Morrison. The tragedy was reported with prominence in newspapers around the world. The colonel’s death was published in a black-bordered extraordinary gazette by the government of India on August 13.
