Wing Commander Darryl laid to rest

Posted with the Barrackpore-based 157 Helicopter Unit,Darryl was piloting an Mi-17 V5 chopper on June 25 when it crashed on the hillside in Gaurikund.

Senior IAF officers present at the funeral said Darryl had been among the founding officers of the 157 Helicopter Unit,which was raised last year following the induction of the Mi-17 V5 helicopters into the IAF. “Darryl was one of seven officers who founded the unit Tarkshya. The emblem of our unit is Saptarishi or the seven stars. Darryl was one of those stars,” said his Commanding Officer,Wing Commander Apoorv Verma.

He added that Darryl was one of the first officers to begin relief work in Uttarakhand. “He was responsible for supervising the planning of rescue and relief work. He had flown extensively before in Kedarnath and Badrinath. On Tuesday,he started before 6 am and was eager to leave. Before going,he told me,’don’t worry sir,we’ll be careful,’” he said.

Colleagues and relatives remember Darryl as humble and full of life. “He had a booming voice and could plan a mission as easily as choreograph a dance celebration. He was able to connect with junior officers easily and at the same time,deal with senior officers. He was known for playing pranks. It has been an honour for the entire unit to serve alongside him,” Verma said.

Walter Buthello,a close relative,said,“He was a simple man. Nobody who met him would even feel he was such a high-ranked officer.”

Darryl leaves behind wife Jyothi and two children — eight-year-old Ethan and five-year-old Angelina. Earlier in the day,hundreds of family members and neighbours packed in to St Anthony’s Church for a two-hour funeral service while several others thronged outside to listen to the service.

In a short address to the congregation,Jyothi described her marriage to Darryl as a dream. “It was a dream when I first met Darryl. The last 10 years with him have been so beautiful and I will treasure every moment. He made me feel like a queen. Our children were his prized possession and he worked tirelessly for them,” she choked.

“The life of our brother Castellino has not ended,but changed. He fulfilled the purpose of his life. He served his fellow men expecting nothing in return,” Bishop Percival Fernandes,who was a classmate of Darryl’s father.

In a private moment after the VIPs,the force and the police left the cemetery,close family members gathered round Darryl’s grave to say their final goodbyes. “He was not only a gift to his family but to the country as a whole,” said a relative.

The skies seemed to share the family’s grief as a drizzle started when little Ethan and Angelina laid flowers on the heap of wreaths.