High ranking navy officers pay
tribute to HM King Rama VI.
Patcharapol Panrak
Military, government and local residents marked the 86th
anniversary of the death of HM King Vajiravudh, who donated the land on which
the Sattahip Naval Base was eventually built.
Adm. Polwat Sirirodom, a naval consultant, presided over the
Nov. 25 ceremony at the newly constructed HM King Rama VI monument on Sukhumvit
Road’s sixth-kilometer marker. Navy and representatives of the public and
private sectors laid wreaths at the statue, honoring the monarch credited with
fermenting Thai nationalism.
In addition to creating the rank of general in the Thai
military, Rama VI set aside royal land in 1925 to construct the navy’s new
headquarters in 1922.
In June, former naval base commander Vice Adm. Suthat Khayim
decided that the King, who died Nov. 25, 1925, did not get enough recognition
for his contribution to the navy and Sattahip area and pushed for the
construction of a permanent monument. He decreed that HM King Rama VI would be
honored on the anniversary of his death each year.
