Gonikoppal: Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat will unveil the bronze statues of Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa and General K.S. Thimayya at a function in Cauvery College, Gonikoppal, Kodagu district, tomorrow at 10.30 am.

Hectic preparations are on at the College to make the event a grand success. A giant pandal has been erected at the venue and senior Army officers have inspected the place and conducted security drills.

The site for the statues — located close to the ‘Ain Mane,’ the ancestral house of the Kodandera family belonging to the Generals — has been provided by the Cauvery Educational Society. The bronze statues (7’6” in height) were crafted in Bidadi by Shilpi Vijay at a cost of Rs. 17 lakh. This is the only location in India where statues of Army Chiefs stand next to one another.

The history of valour in the Indian Army is incomplete without mention of Kodavas, and amongst them Field Marshal Cariappa and General Thimayya stand out as shining examples of leadership and inspiration.

Field Marshal Cariappa was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army and was conferred the rank of Field Marshal on April 28, 1986. He was also a recipient of the Order of the British Empire for his role in the Burma campaign against the Japanese during World War II. General Thimayya was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1954 and took over as Army Chief on May 7, 1957.

The Field Marshal Cariappa- General Thimayya Forum has been formed with the aim of helping veterans and motivating youngsters to join the armed forces. The Forum started celebrating the birth anniversaries of the Generals in 2007, and today, Field Marshal Cariappa’s birth anniversary has become a government event. Efforts are on to do the same for Gen. Thimayya’s birth anniversary as well. The Forum is also actively involved in turning ‘Sunny Side,’ which was Gen. Thimayya’s residence in Madikeri, into a Museum and War Memorial. The plan is to complete the work by mid-2018.