Saw Ba Yi Explained

Saw Ba Yi
Death Date:	1951
Allegiance:	Union of Burma
Rank:	civilian
Awards:	Aung San Thuriya

Saw Ba Yi (Burmese: စောဘရီ in Burmese pronounced as /sɔ́ ba̰ jì/) is an ethnic Karen and the only civilian to have won the Aung San Thuriya Medal, the highest award for gallantry and bravery in Burma (Myanmar) in 1951.^[1] Under normal circumstances, the medal is only awarded to members of the Myanmar Armed Forces.^[2]

Service to the country

Saw Ba Yi volunteered in saving a group of government officials sieged by KNDO rebels in Thandaung in 1951. Though his acts of valour and self-sacrifice preserved the lives of hostages, he was killed in action. He was honoured and awarded the medal posthumously by the President of Burma then.

Commemorations

• Aung San Thuriya Saw Ba Yi Street in downtown Yangon is named in his honour.^[3]

Notes and References

1. News: သမုိင္းဝင္ဘြဲ႕ထူးတစ္ခုႏွင့္ ေန႔တစ္ေန႔ကိုလွစ္ဟျခင္း. 2015-02-04. 7Day Daily - ၇ ရက္ ေန႔စဥ္ သတင္းစာ. 2018-05-26. en.
2. Book: Tapʻ ma toʻ . 48th anniversary Armed Forces Day commemorative book, literary and art . Puṃ nhipʻ reʺ nhaṅʻʹ Cā ʾupʻ Thutʻ ve reʺ Lupʻ ṅanʻʺ . 1993 . Printing and Publishing Enterprise . 177 . January 1, 2011.
3. Web site: Aung San Thuriya Saw Ba Yi Street, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). placesmap.net. 2017-09-01.