New Delhi: Amar Jawan Jyoti at iconic India Gate was merged with the flame at the National War Memorial in a full military tradition at military ceremony and followed by a parade on Friday.

Air Marshal Balabhadra Radha Krishna, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC), presided over the ceremony. The officer laid wreath first at Amar Jawan Jyoti and then at War Memorial. He was welcomed by three deputy chiefs in full military tradition.

The torch bearing the flames from Amar Jawan Jyoti was carried and merged with National War Memorial in a full military tradition. Tri service soldiers marched carrying the flame from India Gate to the war memorial metres away from there. Amar Jawan Jyoti was built in 1972 underneath the India Gate arch to commemorate soldiers martyred in the Indo-Pak War of 1971. It is a memorial symbolized by an inverted bayonet and soldier’s helmet over it with an eternal flame burning beside it.

Tri services Chiefs and visiting delegates used to pay respect at the Amar Jawan Jyoti. Even on all important days like Republic Day and Independence Day, tri services Chief used to pay respect at Amar Jawan Jyoti. New eternal flame at National War Memorial and wreath-laying ceremony on all designated days being carried out at memorial made the force to merge the flames. National War Memorial was built in memory of soldiers and unsung heroes who have laid down their lives defending the nation since Independence.

It is spread over 40 acres in the India Gate complex behind the canopy and is dedicated to soldiers killed during the Indo-China War in 1962, Indo-Pak Wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, Indian Peace Keeping Force Operations in Sri Lanka and in the Kargil Conflict in 1999, and also those in the UN peacekeeping missions.