TRUE HEROES & HEROINES
Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay |
Photo From Kete Horowhenua : Horowhenua Historical Society Inc. via Wikimedia Commons |
Patriots/ Pioneers |
The Conquerors-Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay.
In 1953, under the leadership of John Hunt, the British were given permission to climb Mount Everest. Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator during World War II, and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepalese Indian Sherpa Mountaineer also called Sherpa Tenzing were part of the British Everest Expedition, led by Colonel John Hunt.
At 4 a.m. on May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay awoke in camp nine and readied themselves for their climb. They both helped each other and finally at 11:30 a.m. reached the summit crossing all the obstacles coming in their way like the freezing of the boots and even a rock face which is now called “Hillary’s Step”. The two men enjoyed only 15 minutes at the top of the world because of their low air supply, but they spent their time taking photographs, taking in the view, placing a food offering and also made a cross on the snow. They received several decorations for this throughout their career.
Following the ascent of Everest, Hillary devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded. Through his efforts many schools and hospitals were built in this remote region of the Himalayas. Tenzing Norgay became director of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling and founded a company-T enzing Norgay Adventures.
Tenzing during an interview told about his life “It has been a long road…from a mountain coolie, a bearer of loads, to a wearer of a coat with rows of medals who is carried about in planes and worries about income tax.”
Edmund died in 2008, at the age of 88, in Auckland. Tenzing died two years before Hillary, at age 71, in India.
They are true heroes for me as they were the symbols of great determination & courage which will always be remembered.
Sir Edmund Hillary Created by Pragan Madan |
Tenzing Norgay Created by Pragan Madan |
Content and drawings contributed by Pragan Madan |
Page developed by students from Littleton High School, USA & St. Mark's Senior Secondary Public School, India |
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