A team from KET and a group of supporters visited Kohima to commemorate the the 80th anniversary.
The descendants laid wreaths, made with beautiful flowers grown in Nagaland, at Kohima Cemetery and paid tribute to the heroes who fought in the Battle of Kohima from 4th April 4 to 22nd June in 1944. Children from four schools also laid their own wreaths.
Wreaths were also laid by two great grandsons and a great-nephew of Field Marshal Bill Slim:
Kohima cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It lies on the battle ground of Garrison Hill, a long wooded spur on a high ridge in what is now the centre of the town. The site contains graves and memorial stones commemorating the 2,337 men who fought and died. At the lower end of the cemetery, near the entrance, is a memorial to the British 2nd Division who fought at Kohima. It bears the inscription of the Kohima Epitaph.
Rev Dr Vevo Phesao the senior pastor from the Chakhesang Baptist Church said the commemoration prayer and a musical number was sung by the Khedi Baptist Church Youth group. The commemoration programme was led by Rozelle Mero, a trustee of our sister organisation, the Kohima Educational Society.
Speaking after the ceremony which was held at the war memorial, Viscount Mark Slim, the grandson of Field Marshal Bill Sliim, praised both the Naga people and the Indian forces for supporting the British Army fighting against the invading Japanese forces.
The group of 26 descendants of veterans from the UK had arrived in Kohima after undertaking a 77-mile walk over a period of 39 hours - recreating the walk by the 1st Assam Regiment led by Lt Col Willilam Felix "Bruno" Brown, grandfather of KET Trustee Charlotte Carty, who led the walking group with expert assistance from another KET Trustee, Dr Robert Lyman. They had started out from Jessami (Manipur) on 1st April and successfully completed their mission on April 3 just as had been done by the Assams 80 years earlier.
