Mangalore: Freedom Fighter, INA Soldier Sundar Rao No More
Daijiworld Media Network- Mangalore (VA) 

Mangalore, Feb 26: Indian National Army (INA) veteran U Sundar Rao (87) passed away in Balmatta here on Thursday February 25. He was a well known soldier in INA and also a senior freedom fighter. 

Rao who was suffering from poor health breathed his last in one of the daughter’s house at Balmatta here. He is survived by three daughters.  

Rao basically hails from Beltangady. After completing his high school at Beltangady, he proceeded to Bombay in 1941 and joined the British Indian Army as a combatant clerk. He was given an overseas assignment in Malaya by the end of the year. But during World War II, Rao became a prisoner of war along with 1.3 lac allied troops in Malaya. He escaped from captivity and made efforts to return to India.
 
He landed in Singapore as a fugitive and lived there for several months under Japanese military rule, the release said. He then joined the Indian Independence movement under the leadership of Ras Bihari Bose and Mohan Singh.

Under the INA leadership, Rao became a member of the 250 elite INA advance party that was sent from Singapore to Burma to launch a movement to free India from the British and was fortunate to have met Subhas Chandra Bose. Rao had authored a book, Reminiscences of an INA Soldier, the recollection of his days in INA.