PATAUDI (Gurgaon): For almost four decades, Shanti Devi had nursed a faint hope that she would one day be reunited with her husband. Her wait ended in despair last week when she was told that the frozen remains of her soldier husband, who went missing in an air crash in November 1968, had been fished out early this month from a glacier in Himachal Pradesh.

For Shanti Devi, now in her early-60s, the confirmation of Har Das's death evokes mixed feelings. "No wife would ever wish to hear such news. At the same time, it's a consolation that my husband's body will be cremated at his native place. His wish will be fulfilled," says the Dalit woman. Das's body would be brought to Lochab village in Pataudi on Thursday morning for cremation.

Har Das was one of the four soldiers whose bodies were accidentally discovered by an mountaineering expedition at an altitude of more than 17,500 feet in the Lahaul region of Himachal Pradesh early this month.

An AN 12 transport aircraft carrying Indian Army soldiers had crashed into the 6264-metre Chandrabhaga peak in November 1968, in which all 102 on board were killed. The bodies were only partially decomposed when they were discovered but have since deteriorated.

Das's remains now weigh just 6.5 kg and he was identified on the basis of an oval disc on his wrist on which his name, rank and battalion were engraved.

Shanti, who was barely 21-22 years old when the accident happened, says that all these years she waited with receding hope that Das would come home and take her along as he had promised before his official assignment to Ladakh in November 1968.

"He had told me that he would be back in a few months, but then came the telegram saying that his airplane had crashed," she says.