Yaounde: Military Engineering Corps pays tribute to personnel killed in line of duty.

The event organised at the institution’s new command post in the Ngoa-Ekelle neigbourhood, saw the unveiling of a newly constructed Military Engineering Memorial.

The structure, erected in form of a cave, with a height of eight metres and constructed on surface of 36m2, bears the relics of fallen sappers of the Military Engineering Corps.

Constructed on the very high military command, the memorial is used to pay tribute to personnel of the corps who made the supreme sacrifice by dying for fatherland.

The event was chaired by the Director of Military Engineering Corps, Colonel Jackson Kamgain. It witnessed the burying of relic materials in the memorial of the engineering sappers who died for homeland.

Speaking to reporters, Colonel Kamgain, said: «This memorial is realised on the high instructions of the Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in order to honour those who died in the line of action for our fatherland Cameroon”. 

He went further to say that memorial constitutes a privileged place of contemplation not only for soldiers and families of the late sappers, but also for any Cameroonian who wishes to honour the memory of these sappers died for the Fatherland.

The consecration of the memorial held in the presence of family members of sappers killed in action.

Also in attendance were high authorities of the defence and security forces, officials of the Military Engineering Corps, delegations of sappers coming from different Engineering Regiments, engineer officers of the Garrison, retired military engineers among others.

About the memorial

The cave-like structure has at its top combat and construction branches, highlighted through the excavator on which two assault rifles and a combat helmet are placed.

On its rear view, is a high-relief which represents a sapper honouring his comrades-in-arms killed in action.

On the left side of the entrance, two sappers carrying out the search and neutralisation of Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, represent Combat Engineering.

The memorial also highlights the fight against IED and the construction of combat posts. The Military Engineering expertise in infrastructure works is presented in a table showing buildings, roads and engineering structures is also projected.

The site also represents the various infrastructure works that Military Engineering is carrying out across the entire national territory on the instructions of the President of the Republic, Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. 

The event was organised in prelude to the inauguration, in the coming weeks, of the new Command Post of the Military Engineering Department by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence.

This story first published in The Guardian Post issue No3131 of Tuesday June 04, 2024