He was the first Goan to be made an Air Marshall in the
Indian air force, the first Goan to win the Param Vishisht Seva medal and the
first officer from logistics branch of the air force to reach that level. Today
is the first death anniversary of Air Marshal Loreto Pestana Periera and Pamela
Pereira his wife has written a book that describes their life in the air force
in great detail.
Air Marshal Loreto Pestana Pereira the son of the
Governor of Daman and Diu in Portuguese Goa was a medical representative who
chanced upon an advertisement in the local paper inviting people to join the
air force. The selection would be done in Dehradun and the travel would be paid
for by the forces and it would be done in first class luxury. Having nothing to
lose he went and cleared the interview and commenced life in the air force.
Pamela Pereira now living in Bengaluru said the idea for the
book came to her during the lockdown. She said “I wanted our Goans to learn
about him and the life we lead and our experiences in 12 postings one of which
was in London as the deputy air attaché. He was a linguist who knew 7
languages”.
The book which is being released today is called My life with
Air Marshall. It is a story of the 76 year relationship between the
author and her late husband, who was from Margao who passed away last year in
November.
The story in the book starts in 1943, when they first met and
details how they fell in love, got married, and then spent 64 years together,
of which 38 years were in the Indian Air Force. Air Marshal Pereira was
commissioned into the Air Force in the Logistics branch as a pilot officer from
where he stepped up the ladder with his determination and honesty.
Pamela said “It is a simple story written from memory, and
not from a diary, or any notes. This is the first effort by me and is a story
of a wife, who loved her husband and wanted to make an everlasting tribute to
him, after he passed away”. There are also chapters about their three sons,
their wives and grandchildren.
The early influence of Air Marshal Pereira on his wife is
evident as she recalls, “When I first married Loreto, I was shy, timid and
bashful, but over a period of time, maybe two years l learnt to be bolder. I
developed a dress sense from western dresses I changed completely into a sari”.
She goes on to write about her husband’s diplomatic postings.
“We were in Wellington in the beginning, as he was doing a ten months course in
the Defence Services Staff College. From there he had a posting to Calcutta.
Then it was London (1967-1970). During this tenure we were invited every year
to the Queens garden party and once in our tenure we were invited to the
cocktail party at Buckingham Palace and met the whole royal family. He was
further sent to Canada on a ten month assignment as the Air Force was
purchasing the Caribou aircraft and later he was again selected to go to Paris
as the Air Force was purchasing the Alouette helicopter”.
She adds, “My dream is for someone to take up this book and
make it into a movie, which I think would be very well received, because of the
various places that were visited, and the various incidents that I have related
in the book. I really hope my dream turns into reality”. She also hoped the
youth in Goa would read the book and be enthused to join the forces because it
would guarantee them a rich glamorous life with a decent pay packet.