News

Volume 8 Issue 2 - January 15, 2011

1971 war-disabled run Mumbai marathon

Participants at the Mumbai marathon

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: Seventy-three year old Major General (Retired) Ian Cardozo, a war disabled, participated in the marathon held in Mumbai. Despite having lost a leg, he chose not to participate in the marathon under the disability event but in the Senior Citizens category. Cardozo ran on an artificial leg to make people tear down their mental barriers about people with disabilities.

A team of 10 participated from the Delhi-based War Wounded Foundation to raise awareness for the war veterans. This was the first time that the Foundation participated in the Mumbai Marathon. “The reason behind founding the War Wounded Foundation was to highlight the plight of wounded soldiers and the apathy shown towards them,” Cardozo said.

During the Indo-Pak war of 1965, Captain Vijay Oberoi was just 25 when he lost his right leg to enemy firing. With an artificial leg strapped on, Oberoi took 50 minutes to walk the 5 k.m. distance and cross the finish line. The enthusiastic applause Cardozo and Oberoi received from audience along the way was proof of their success.

“Many of us have lost a limb or an eye at a very young age, but people don’t recognize us at martyrs,” said Oberoi, now a retired Lieutenant General in Chandigarh. “Even the disability pension we get is peanuts.”