Sergeant Apisit Bunnak has become the first army medic to be killed in the current border dispute, when Cambodian troops fired rockets at his bunker during a clash in Si Sa Ket province on December 14.
Apisit, a medic serving with the Second Army Region was killed while performing his duties inside a bunker in the Phu Makua area of Kantharalak district, Si Sa Ket, when a BM-21 rocket, launched by Cambodia, struck his position.
Despite the sorrow, his wife Ravivan, speaking from her home in Kalasin province, where preparations are under way for his funeral, said that she and the family were proud that he did his duty as a combat medic until his final moments and made the ultimate sacrifice for the nation.
“He was always someone who loved helping others, was kind-hearted and well loved by his fellow soldiers,” she said.
Ravivan said she had spoken with her husband by phone shortly before the fighting broke out, with no indication of what was to come.
She said she never imagined he would be killed, as his role focused on providing medical assistance and evacuating the wounded, rather than engaging in combat.
Apisit and Ravivan have an eight-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son.
Ravivan also appealed to everyone, including her husband’s commanding officers, to help look for Tiger, Apisit’s favourite dog, and determine whether he is still alive.
Wherever Apisit went, Tiger went with him. Even when her husband was deployed to the front line, the dog was never far from his side, she said.
She still hopes that Tiger could be brought home as well, because Tiger was truly her husband’s closest companion, a bond they shared throughout the dog’s life.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Major Krisda Harnsupho, attached to the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, based in the northeastern province of Nakhon Phanom, has become the latest soldier killed in the battle with Cambodia.
The death toll among Thai soldiers, since the outbreak of the second round of fighting, has risen to 17.
