50th NDA Course' celebrates golden jubilee reunion

Coursemates of the 50th NDA Course celebrated their Golden Jubilee Reunion from June 2 to 4 at the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Khadakwasla.

The highlight of the event was wreath laying at the Hut of Remembrance. As many as 110 officers (85 couples and 25 single officers) along with 13 Veer Naris attended the event, some travelling from Canada, Australia and Bhutan. Some were accompanied by their children.

The participants fondly remembered and missed their 59 departed colleagues. Besides bonding over interactive sessions and meals, a soulful musical evening was also organised.

The 50th NDA Course was a comparatively larger course with 305 cadets joining in June 1973 and out of them, 277 (179 in Army, 40 in Navy and 58 in IAF) were finally commissioned in 1977. The course had many foreign cadets, notably from Afghanistan and Bhutan.

Penden Wangchuk, former Cabinet Secretary of Bhutan, was among those who attended the event. The current Governor of Uttarakhand, Lt Gen Gurmit Singh, could not attend.

The course produced thirteen Lieutenant Generals, with one becoming an Army Commander (Lt Gen K J Singh). Gen Khodaidad Hazara rose to be the Minister of Counter Narcotics in Afghanistan.

The course is fondly referred to as "Goldies" and had a somewhat rare and dubious occurrence of their Passing Out Parade on 5 June 1977 being washed out due to torrential rains.

The course also had a disproportionately large number of outstanding sportsmen, with a dozen blazers.

The event was made possible by the NDA with help from the Group of Punekars led by Wg Cdr Dilip Fulay, Gp Capt Sathe, Cdr C P Srivastava and Col Vijay, duly supported by others.

They are now looking forward to the golden jubilee of commissioning at IMA Dehradun in June 2027.