A soldier’s journey beyond the battlefield

The year was 2018. We were in the process of launching a new course in Aerospace Management at HAL Management Academy. I urgently needed someone to handle a specific computer task, but the staff was occupied. That was when 59-year-old Anthony Cruz stepped in to help. I was surprised because I had heard that he had been promoted from a cook in the canteen to the role of stores-in-charge. I also learned that Cruz, who had failed Class 8, had begun his career at HAL in the canteen at the age of 18. 

He completed the work efficiently. I was amazed by his commitment to self-improvement and asked him what his secret was behind self-actualisation. He said that he had learned discipline and the importance of time from his father, Anthony Manickam, a World War II veteran. What unfolded was the story of one of the many sepoys of the British Indian Army, whose contributions were crucial to the war effort but who were largely forgotten after discharge.

Anthony Manickam was born on June 10, 1923, in Pavitram village in Tamil Nadu. He had only studied up to Class 2 and mostly helped his father with farming. One day, he heard that the Army was conducting a recruitment camp in a nearby village. Out of curiosity, Anthony and his friend went to watch. 

One look at the tall, well-built Anthony was enough to convince the selection officer to seek out his enlistment. Anthony immediately agreed.

He was enrolled on June 10, 1941, at the age of 18, as a sepoy in the Madras Sappers, later renamed the Madras Engineering Group (MEG), headquartered in Bangalore since 1834. 

After just six months of training, he was deployed to the Burma Campaign of World War II, where he fought in the British colony of Burma against the invading Japanese forces. It was a brutal war, filled with gunfire and loss, and Anthony witnessed many fellow soldiers fall around him.

With independence came the joy of serving one’s own nation. When Anthony Cruz brought in his father’s medals, I held the Burma Star in my hand, a campaign medal awarded to personnel who served in Burma between 11 December 1941 and 2 September 1945. 

The medal, a six-pointed star, bore the Royal Cypher ‘GRI VI’ (King George VI) on the front, surrounded by the inscription ‘The Burma star’. There was also a second six-pointed star bearing The 1939–1945 star and a third medal, The war medal 1939–1945, with a side profile of King George VI.

Naik Anthony Manickam.

Among his Indian honours were five medals awarded after Independence. One of them was the Indian Independence Medal, which featured the Ashoka lions with the inscription Indian Independence at the top and 15th August 1947 below. 

Manickam was also promoted to the rank of ‘Naik’. During his service, he was posted in Bangalore for several years. His eldest daughter was born at Bowring Hospital in 1949. His postings took him across the country, including to Poona, where Anthony Cruz was born.

He served in the Indian Army’s MEG regiment until 1968. Upon discharge, he struggled to support his family of five children. In Bangalore, he found daily-wage work in a workshop near MEG as a pattern maker in carpentry. A chance visit by a former Army commander helped him secure a job at HAL in 1971. Here, he worked in the security department until his retirement in 1981. He passed away on March 13, 2016, carrying with him the proud memories of having served the nation.

Naik Anthony Manickam, an unsung sepoy mostly invisible in the pages of history, served the country with pride and honesty. I saw his legacy live on in his son Anthony Cruz, who, wherever he was posted, canteen, stores, or library, left the place more organised and improved. Anthony Cruz retired from HAL as Senior Chief Supervisor in 2019.