Maj Gen KS Sethi lays a wreath at the bust of Sam Manekshaw in Shillong on Friday. Telegraph picture

Shillong, June 26: One of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s favourite lines, many in the defence forces say, was his own: “If someone says that he is happy to die, he should be either a liar or a Gorkha.”

Today, on the eve of the general’s first death anniversary, a bust of Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw was unveiled, fittingly, at the 58 Gorkha Training Centre in Happy Valley in Shillong. It was a tribute from the Gorkha soldiers to their “Sam Bahadur”.

The bust, unveiled by Major General K.S. Sethi, general-officer-commanding, 101 Area, has been designed by Calcutta-based sculptor Gautam Pal.

In August last year, a park, christened Sam Bahadur Memorial Park, was opened at the Gorkha Training Centre which Manekshaw frequented since 1976.

There is also a museum, made in 1980, to honour the field marshal. It has his uniforms, trophies, scrolls of the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan that Manekshaw was awarded and photographs.

The museum also has the original certificates of the Legion of Merit conferred on him by the US on April 14, 1970, and the Shiromani Award he was given on January 20, 1987.

“He was a man of unflinching moral courage and leadership skills par excellence,” Major General Sethi said, after unveiling the bust.

Appointed colonel of the 8 Gorkha Regiment in 1953, Manekshaw became the chief of army staff in 1969. He led the army in the 1971 operations and liberated Bangladesh from Pakistan in a lightning operation of 16 days.

Manekshaw was made a lifelong Honorary Colonel of the 8 Gorkha Regiment.