PATHANAMTHITTA: Elanthoor village is preparing to bid farewell to its beloved soldier who lost his life in the misty mountains of Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh 56 years ago. The mortal remains of Thomas Cheriyan,78, son of late O M Thomas and Aliyamma, of Odalil, Elanthoor East, will be brought to Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday night in a special flight of the Army. The body will be brought to Odalil family by 11am and the funeral will be held at St Peters Church, Karoor, at 2pm.
My Uppappan (grandpa’s brother) will be laid to rest in the family tomb of the church where my father and grandparents were buried, said Shyju K Mathew, son of Thomas Mathew, brother of Thomas Cheriyan. “My father and grandparents had been waiting for decades expecting the return of Uppappan, but they left earthly life with that expectation.
The Army repeatedly informed our family about the search operation for the soldiers in the Rohtang Pass and informed the family about the progress regularly. So the entire family expected positive news.
But finally, on Monday they informed us that the mortal remains were recovered and all our hopes regarding his return were dashed”, said Shyju, an assistant engineer with the PWD.
After passing matriculation, Cheriyan joined the Army when he was 18. “My father Mathew was also an Army man and it inspired him to join the Army. He was appointed as a craftsman in the Electronic and Mechanical Engineering wing of the Army.
After four years’ training he was posted in the Leh-Ladakh sector. On the fateful day, he was on his way to Lay from Chandigarh in the Indian Air Force flight AN -12. The plane crashed at Rohtang Pass. 102 soldiers on board went missing on February 7, 1968,” said Shyju.
The Army continued search for the remains of the flight since the accident, but in 2003, some parts of the flight were located in the ice mountains. Later in 2005, 2006, 2013, and 2019, some more parts of the flight were recovered. In 2019, the body parts of five soldiers were identified. In the search held in 2024, the body parts of Thomas Cheriyan and three others were taken out by the search team.
Thomas Cheriyan is the second son of O M Thomas-Aliyamma. His elder brother Thomas Mathew served around 15 years in the Army and completed service after pressure from the family following the missing of Thomas Cheriyan. He returned to his native and got a job in the forest department and died in 1991. One year ago in 1990, O M Thomas died and his wife Aliyamma died in 1998, without seeing their missing son Thomas Cheriyan.
Thomas Thomas, another brother of Thomas Cheriyan, said I remember that I met my brother when I got a job in BHEL in Haridwar. “When I moved to Haridwar on a train from Chengannur railway station, Thomas Cheriyan was on leave and he reached the station to see me off. That was my last memory,” said 76-year-old Thomas Thomas. Other siblings Thomas Varghese and Mary Thomas are living near their ancestral home in Elanthoor.