Father Kishor Chauhan, explained how remembrance day was a time of recent grief for him and his family: “We’re just going to use the day to remember our son” he said. His 29 year-old boy Flight Lieutenant Rakesh Chauhan was an intelligence officer in the RAF who died in April of this year when the Lynx helicopter in which he was being transported came down in Afghanistan.
“He used to watch Remembrance Sunday commemorations on the TV” father Kishor stated. “We used to watch it with him but we didn’t know what it meant to him. It’s very different this year, the day has a whole new meaning for us.” Kishor said that he had talked with the families of British soldiers who died in the First World War: “It’s amazing how much we had in common, yet our relatives were from completely different generations.”
Kishor has accepted awards on behalf of his son Lieutenant Rakesh Chauhan who was honoured for his bravery by ABPL's Asian Achievers Awards, and given the GG2 Pride of Britain Award in November: “I am so proud that his memory lives on, he has achieved so much” the emotional father said.
