User:Kripan/Brigadier Mark Pillai

Brigadier Mark Pillai new article content ... Brig. Markandan (Mark) Murugesan Pillai, MC was a Lieutenant in the Royal Bombay Sappers & Miners in Malaya when Singapore fell and the Allies surrendered in 1942. He was the first Allied officer to escape from Singapore and make his way back to India. He was born on 11th August 1911 in Thataparai in the Tirunelveli district of what is now Tamil Nadu in India. He was commissioned into the Bombay Sappers in 1941 and was immediately drawn into the war in Malaya. His escape was the first recorded from Singapore and covered a 5 month journey by foot, by boat and by train through Malaya, Siam and Burma. He was accompanied by a medical officer who did not complete the journey and remained behind in Siam and a civilian acquaintance. "Three Thousand Miles to Freedom" is his account of the escape. His escape narrative when being debriefed was classified "Most Secret" and was not declassified for 50 years. The Australian copy of his narrative is in the Singapore War Archives. He was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry by Field Marshall Archibald Wavell. He went on to become an Instructor at the Jungle Warfare School and Commandant of the Bombay Engineering Group and retired as a Brigadier in 1965. He died peacefully in Kodaikanal in June 1988.

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