Major General Ian Cardozo - Param Vir: Our Heroes in Battle

Major General Ian Cardozo was born in Mumbai and studied at St Xaviers School and College. In July 1954, he joined the Joint Services Wing which later became the National Defence Academy. Here he was the first cadet to win the gold medal for being the best all-round cadet, and the silver medal for being first in order of merit. He was commissioned at the Indian Military Academy into the 1st Battalion the Fifth Gorkha Rifles (FF) in 1958 and was one of the first officers to be awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry on a patrol in NEFA in 1960. Wounded in the battle of Sylhet in Bangladesh in 1971, he overcame the handicap of losing a leg and became the first officer to be approved for command of an Infantry Battalion. He retired in 1993 from his appointment as Chief of Staff of a Corps in the East.

Author of The Sinking of INS-Khukri: Survivors Stories, he has worked with the Spastics Society of Northern India. At present he is working for persons with disability as Chairman of the Rehabilitation Council of India and is the Vice President of the War Wounded Foundation.

OTHER TITLE OF MAJ. GEN. IAN CARDOZO

The Sinking of INS Khukri-Survivor's Stories

OTHER LOTUS TITLES

Lotus Collection

Ian Cardozo 2003

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

without the prior permission of the publisher.

First published in hardback, 2003

Second edition in hardback, 2003

Third edition in hardback, 2005

This paperback edition first published in 2008

Second edition in paperback, 2009

Third impression, 2012

The Lotus Collection

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Cover Design: Sneha Pamneja

ISBN: 978-81-7436-262-9

Dedicated to

The Unknown Soldier

Iam very indebted to the following persons, organisations, and institutions for the help I have received in putting together this story of the Param Vir Chakra and the men who won it. Without their contribution, this book could not have been written. These include authors of books, regimental histories, search engines on the Internet, articles in newspapers and magazines, letters from officers and friends of the awardees, interviews with those who were part of some of the campaigns and battles, and persons, military and civil, whose advice has been invaluable.

To Commanding Officers of battalions and Commandants of Regimental Centres who took time off from their busy schedules, I offer my special thanks and also to civilian persons of Bharat Rakshak and Google.com who have taken so much trouble to put together accounts of a military nature including information on the Param Vir Chakra. Listed below are sources of information which have helped in putting together this story, and whose help I wish to acknowledge.

For citations, photographs, accounts of battles, and personal narratives of the Param Vir Chakra awardees:

Brigadier P.K. Saxena, Commandant Kumaon Regimental Centre

Brigadier Vijay Aga, Commandant HQ Bombay Engineering Group and Centre

Brigadier Kamal Sood, Commandant 14 Gorkha Training Centre

Colonel T.P.S. Gill, Officiating Commandant Sikh Regimental Centre

Colonel S.S. Ghosh, Deputy Commandant Brigade of the Guards Regimental Centre

Colonel Jasbir Singh and Colonel Y.K. Joshi, VrC, Commanding Officers of 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles

Colonel R.V. Kanetkar, Commandant the Poona Horse

Colonel Satish Dua, Commanding Officer 8 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry

Colonel P.D. Hallur, Commanding Officer 8 Mahar

Colonel Mam Raj Singh, SM, Commanding Officer 5 Mahar.

Colonel Lalit Kumar Rai, VrC, and Lieutenant Colonel A. Asthana, Commanding Officers 1/11Gorkha Rifles

Colonel Vijay Pal, Commanding Officer 6 Rajputana Rifles

Colonel Devendra Kapoor, Commanding Officer 4 Guards

Colonel Anurag Gupta, Commanding Officer 4 Mechanized Infantry, (1 Sikh)

Major Gautam Kalita, Officiating Commanding Officer, 14 Guards

Colonel A.R. Samuel, Commanding Officer 3 Mechanized Infantry, (1/8 Gorkha Rifles)

Colonel B.B. Patnaik, Commanding Officer, 3 Grenadiers

Lieutenant Colonel Ashok Kumar, Second-in-Command, 4 Grenadiers

Lieutenant Colonel Sanjeev Bhatti, SM, SC, Grenadiers Regimental Centre

Lieutenant General R.S. Khalon PVSM, VSM, AVSM

Lieutenant General Surendranath Sharma, PVSM, AVSM, Corps of Engineers

Lieutenant General Y.K. Mehta, AVSM, Commandant Indian Military Academy

Major Ashok Nath, Stockholm, Sweden

Major General N.S. Pathania, VSM, General Officer Commanding 25 Infantry Division

Major General Farad Bhatti

Military Secretaries Branch, Army Headquarters