US Army band plays the Indian National Anthem at Joint Base Lewis, McChord.
The rousing strains of "Jana Gana Mana" were played out by an US army band during the joint Indo-US military exercise on Wednesday. In the video shared by news agency ANI, the American soldiers can be seen playing the Indian national anthem on their trumpets at the Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington, D.C., during the concluding day of the Yudh Abhyas 2019.
Yudh Abhyas is one of the largest running joint military training and defence corporation endeavours between India and the US. This is the 15th edition of the joint exercise hosted alternately between the two countries.
Indian origin American soldier, Staff Sergeant Ranbir Kaur was also a part of the exercise at the Joint Base Lewis McChord that began on September 5.
"I was born in India but was brought up in the US since 1993. I have been part of the US Army since 2003. Currently, I am at the closing ceremony for YA 19 (Yudh Abhyas 2019) and had a great experience working with my Indian counterparts. The best part of the exercise was that female Indian officers participated in it. That was great interaction between both sides. I learned a lot from them and look forward to working with them again," Staff Sergeant Kaur, who is also the first Sikh woman to join the US Army, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The exercise is aimed at countering the threat of international terrorism through mutual training and jointness.
During the exercise, both armies jointly trained, planned and executed a series of well-developed operations for neutralisation of threats of varied nature.
On Sunday, a video of the US Army soldiers singing Assam Regiment's marching song Badluram ka badan zameen ke neeche hai along with the Indian Army contingent was shared by the Indian Army on its Twitter handle.
The video of the troops of both the armies dancing on the song was widely shared on social media.