Only Marshal of IAF, hero of 1965, he shaped the force 1 / 27
“ Soldiers come ,
Soldiers go , Soldiers leave unforgettable footprints :: Field Marshal Patton ,
U S A Army , 1945 ”
Some people are BORN never to be ever forgotten and Mr
Arjan Singh, the ONLY FIVE STAR SOLDIER ie FLYING AIR FORCE PERSONNEL WAS THE ONLY ONE
FROM THE AIR-FORCE and ONE of the most TRUSTED DEVOTED and RESPECTED for all
his service to the Indian DEFENSE FORCE especially the Air - Force will never
be forgotten for the service selflessly he offered to the Indian Air-Force and
to this country
The sole Marshal of the Indian
Air Force, Arjan Singh, passed away at the Army’s Research and Referral
Hospital on Saturday evening, on September 17th 2018, hours after he
had been admitted there following a cardiac arrest. He was 98.
An officer who shaped the IAF in
its early years as well as during some of its most difficult junctures, Arjan
Singh had the honour of leading the fly-past of more than a hundred IAF
aircraft over the Red Fort on India’s first Independence Day, August 15, 1947.
Born on April 15, 1919, in
Lyallpur (now in Pakistan) to a family of soldiers, Arjan Singh joined the nascent
IAF in 1938 after completing his education from the Government College at
Lahore to a family of soldiers, and he went on to become the TOPMOST ranked Air
Force Officer in his life.
In 2002, on the occasion of
Republic Day, he was granted the honorary rank of Marshal, the highest military rank attainable, which only two Army
chiefs, K M Carriappa and Sam Manekshaw,
had achieved.
He was commissioned from the
Royal Air Force College at Cranwell in the UK in December 1939. As a Pilot
Officer posted in Karachi, he participated in operations against the tribals in
the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).
The highlights of his early
career were the two operational tenures on the Burma Front during the Second
World War, first as a Pilot Officer with Tigers Squadron and subsequently as
the Commander of the same Squadron. As a consummate Squadron Commander, flying
Hurricane fighters in defence of Imphal in 1944, beseiged by the Japanese, he
had displayed masterly leadership. In an unprecedented step, the then Supreme
Allied Commander of the South East Asian Command, Lord Mountbatten, had
personally awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross on the battlefield for
his leadership and performance in defeating the Japanese.
Arjan Singh held many important
posts in the IAF before taking over as Air Marshal in August 1964. The Pakistan
Air Force was led by his batchmate from Cranwell, Air Marshal Asghar Khan, at
the time. During the skirmish at Kutch in early 1965, the two chiefs had
established contact and agreed on keeping the two air forces out, to prevent
any inadvertent escalation. But once Pakistan had launched Operation Grandslam
to cut off Jammu and Kashmir from the rest of India by launching a military
attack in Akhnoor in September 1965, the then army chief, General J N
Chaudhuri, had met him at Vayu Bhawan and suggested that the Pakistani assault
would best be stopped by the IAF.
Arjan Singh and Chaudhuri had
then gone to meet the defence minister, Y B Chavan, who famously gave them the
go ahead. As Arjan Singh later recounted, “Pakistan had a qualitatively
superior force that included modern fighters such as F-86 Sabres and F-104 Starfighters. The Indian Air Force had Mysteres, Vampires, Ouragans, Hunters, and
Gnats in its inventory. We were
fighting against all odds as they had air-to-air missiles and we just had a few
Russian MiGs that were not used much in the war.”
In the subsequent weeks though,
the IAF had established its air superiority, with deep-penetration attacks
against enemy targets, including the farthest Pakistani airfields like Peshawar
and Mauripur.
Arjan Singh continued to believe
that the 1965 War ended in a stalemate despite India being in an advantageous
position. “When the talk about ceasefire started, I had advised Shastriji
(Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri), who was under enormous international
pressure, against accepting it,” he later recounted. “On the other hand,
Pakistan was losing its aircraft at a fast rate and was keen on accepting the
ceasefire. However, because of international pressure and other considerations,
India agreed to the ceasefire.”
For his meritorious services
during the 1965 Indo-Pak War, Arjan Singh was honoured with the Padma
Vibhushan. On January 15, 1966, he became the first officer of the IAF to be
promoted to the rank of Air Chief Marshal, at par with a General.
He continued to serve the country
in various capacities even after retirement in July 1969. In 1971, he was made
India’s Ambassador to Switzerland and in 1974, the High Commissioner to Kenya.
He also served as a member of the Minorities Commission and as the Lt Governor
of Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who
visited Arjan Singh in hospital on Saturday, mourned his death. “We remember
his outstanding service to the nation,” he said.
Mr Arjun Singh and his contribution to Indian Sports
SPORTS:::::
Mr ARJAN SINGH
This also is
SOMETHING which I would like to SHARE it with all those who REALLY adorn and
ADORE the INDIAN SPORTS
It was 1970 . The Indian
contingent for the 6th Asian Games was to be announced that was to be held at
Bangkok, Thailand For the information of many Thailand also had previously held
that Games in 1966 and India did not do anything well in that games Naturally
the Indian Government with Madam Indira Gandhi holding the Department of Sports
as an additional charge was very perturbed about whom to bestow the honour so
that he/she raises the MORAL of the Indian sports contingent for the games and
at the games.
Mr Arvind Netam during that time
was incharge of the Department of Games and Sports in the Indian Government but
on a AD-HOC basis He reminded Mrs Indira Gandhi to pick Mr Arjun Singh as he
felt that with the kind of the
MOTIVATIONAL and FIGHTING
qualities that Mr Singh had he would be able to inspire to raise the bar of the
Indian contingent to a very GREAT level
Mrs Gandhi called upon Mr Singh and asked him- SAHAB KYA YEH
JIMMEDARI NIBHAENGAY AAP and his reply was- SIPAHI HOON JIMMEDARI LENA ADIKAR
HAI BOLIYE KYA KARNA HAI
After some talks it was decided
that this man may be made the CHIEF- DE
- MISSION of the Asian Games 1970 contingent
He did what a SOLDIER was supposed to do He saw to it
that the Indian contingent was given the BEST of the treatment was taken care
admirably well was TREATED
judiciously before and after their event and were always made to feel at easeat
the games village.
Some of the PERFORMANCE displayed by the Indian team was
MIRACULOUS
He came to know about Kamaljit Sandhu whose family members
were serving the Indian Army and Indian Air-Force He called her and infused
some inspirational words. RESULT- Madam
KAMALJIT SINGH SANDHU WON THE 400 METRES GOLD IN THE EVES' EVENT AND BECAME THE
FIRST WOMEN FROM INDIA TO WIN A GOLD IN ANY INTERNATIONAL EVENT
He went a LONG way afterwards to
help Madam Sandhu receive all the best training which enabled her to compete at
the Munich Olympics After the Munich Olympics he met the family of Ms Sandhu
and appraised them to get her married and it did not end here He got a very
good Punjabi family the BRAR and one of them was married to Kamaljit Sandhu.He thus helped her to settle in life
The GOLD MEDAL
which Hawa Singh won in the boxing in the Super Heavy Weight category also was
in a way his inspiration to Hawa Singh in terms of the words which helped Hawa
Singh to erase his mental problem that he was facing to win that bought Hawa
Singh's brother was brutally killed in the 1965 war by the Pakistani at Akhnoor
and the story of the brutal kiiling always played in his mind Hewas suppossed
to face a Pakistani soldier and Hawa Singh had the bent to kill that Pakistani
boxer in the ring
Knowing to get the mental state
of the mind of Hawa Singh he approached Hawa Singh and with his TACT of TALKS and NEUTRALISING
TACTICS to put the brain in right perspective he made Hawa Singh very
normal and that helped Hawa Singh to do what no other Indian boxer did in their
career
HAWA SINGH IS THE ONLY INDIAN BOXER TO WIN TWO BACK TO BACK GOLD
MEDAL IN ANY INTERNATIONAL BOXING EVENT
The next was the Water-Polo event
It had four players from the Indian Air Force participating and
representing India Knowing these he invited the entire Water Polo contingent to
his suite at the GAMES VILLAGE and spoke to them INDIVIDUALLY and COLLECTIVELY
He then took them for a dinner which was his own wallet getting light in the
context
His DEFENSE TACTICAL MAGIC worked wonder with the water-polo team and
they ended winning the BRONZE
THAT WAS THE ONLY OCCASSION IN THE ANNALS OF THE INDIAN SPORTS
THAT AN INDIAN WATER POLO TEAM WON THE MEDAL IN ANY INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
The QUATRET of the AIR-FORCE
player all Bengalis really put a kind of a display that the organizer were left
biting their teeth in anxiety to watch the Indian water polo contingent
displaying that kind of a show It was really UNEXPECTED and when the tournament ie the water polo event was over
the contingent of the IOA who were there to watch the event went to Mr Arjan
Singh saying that they did not know that the Indian are so very good in the
water games
The BIGGEST crux that he held to put the entire games in its own place
was the FOOTBALL event We know that
1970 ASIAN GAMES AT BANGKOK WAS THE LAST
WHEN INDIA DID WIN AN INTERNATIONAL MEDAL A BRONZE FOR THE LAST
This event was
held in a manner that India had to play TWO games in TWO days 180 MINUTES OF
FOOTBALL IN TWO CONSECUTIVE DAYS IS SOMETHINMG WHICH ONE WILL NEVER BELIEVE BUT
YES THAT WAS THE FIXTURE
the Indian team was TOTALLY against this and in one of the
moment they literally wrote the organiser that they would pull out of the
tourney if the scheduling was not reorganised and worked on to make the things
better for them
This was something which totally
was upsetting the applecart of the organiser Extending the fixture by two days-
one for extending the date for India to play her match after atleast a rest day
that they would enjoy and then extending the day of the final match - it would
have added so many a dollars to the existing expense of the organiser
The Chief of the organiser of the
Games then came to Mr Arjan Singh and put his view point He was a OFFICER FROM THE THAI ARMY and he was
given this additioanl charge to conduct the games by the Thai authorities He
spoke all about his difficulties to Mr Arjan Singh and requested him to somehow
make the Indian football team to play two games consecutively in two days
Mr Singh rose to the occasiion ,
spoke each words to each players seperately and collectively and just told
them- PROVE THAT YOU ALL ARE SO STRONG
AN INDIAN THAT YOU CAN OVERCOME THE WEIGHT OF PLAYING CONSECUTIVELY FOR TWO
DAYS
You might lose well- that is in
the game but if you win TWO MATCHES PLAYING FOR TWO DAYS THE WORLD
WILL FEAR YOU WITH ALL RESPECT AND THAT WILL BE YOUR GREATEST " GIFT
" TO INDIAN FOOTBALL This is an occassion for you to stand up and SHOW-
HOW STRONG THE INDANS ARE INSPITE OF BEING A VERY POOR COUNTRY
WON'T YOU LIKE TO TAKE THIS SITUATION TO PROVE A POINT FOR
INDIA, INDIAN FOOTBALL AND YOURSELF
Mr P K Banerjee the coach then in
his presence put this question to the Indian team and no sooner he put that Mohammed Habib got up and said- KHELENGAY BHI AUR JITENGAY BHI CHALO
TAIYYAR HOH JAO and the entire Indian team got onto the feet to say- KHELENGAY
Well India had to play two
matches in two days In the first they lost to Japan by 1-2 in the group
encounter and they then took on Burma in the semis which they lost by 0-2
The Indian team did not loose to
Burma just because the Burmese were too good It was because the Indian were
playing with too TIRED LEGS which
after the 65th minutes of the games was LIFELESS
and STRENGTHLESS even to walk leave apart the question of running However the
Indian team put up a valiant resistance in the last 30 minutes of the match
where the Burmese bombarded them relentlessly and Sudhir Karmakar played a game
of his life to somehow keep the score board still at 2-0
After a day of rest when India
gain took Japan for the Bronze Medal match it was a TALE OF A DIFFERENT KIND
Sudhir Kormokar did not allow the
Tall Japanese striker Jan Kammamotto
even to take a free turn in the game and did not allow him to move at all
Kammamotta ten was the BEST player
of Asia and was playing in the top flight European soccer and was scoring goals
at his own will
Jan Kammamotto
in fact after MAJID BHISKAR is the BEST ASIAN FOOTBALLER that was born at Asia
to play FOOTBALL for Japan from Asia
Pele in his very FIRST AUTOBIOGRAPHY- MY BEST 50 FOOTBALLER had one chapter-
THE ONLY ONE FROM ASIA Kammamoto with all praise for his footballing skill and
when he was totally neutralised which helped India to win that match by 1-0 to
win the Branze, the PRESIDENT of FIFA Mr Alf Ramsay then went to Mr Arjan Singh
and said- ACTUALLY INDIA SHOULD HAVE WON
THE GOLD AND IF IT WAS NOT THAT KIND OF AN HAPHAZARD FIXTURE THAT INDIA WERE TO
ACCEPT AND PLAY YOUR TEAM SHOULD HAVE WON THE GOLD
He later added that HE DID NOT SEE ANY INDIAN TEAM PLAYING THAT
KIND OF UNIMAGINABLE FOOTBALL BESIDE THANKING HIM TO HELP THE FOOTBALL EVENT TO
FINISH AND THAT TOO WITHOUT ANY ABBERATION & ABRUPTION
There again he was FULL of praise for Sudhir Karmakar
saying that if he was to choose three
best defenders in the world amongst all the defenders that he saw playing football,
he would always pick Sudhir Kormokar as
one of them He was shocked to see Sudhirda playing that kind of a
intelligent and tough football inspite
of his very short height and a lean structure body .
It was THIS man who DID
EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to see to it that the events at the 6th Asian Games went on
without being uninterrupted
When the contingent came back- a
special tea party for the contingent was held and the Indian Premier then, Mrs
Indira Gandhi presented every member of the team/contingent with a KASHMIRI SHAWL
Mr Arjan Singh got jobs for all
the members who were willing to join the Government jobs courtesy Madam Indira
Gandhi and the four members of the
water-polo squad who were from the Indian Air-Force were given an out of the
consideration kind of a PROMOTION in their job
He later went onto to BECOME a " GREAT " friend of Mohammed
Habib the PELE of Indian football as he was called. More about it later
In whatever field that this man put his HAND- IT TURNED TO BE
THE -
" HANDS OF GOD "
HELLO Mr MARADONA ARE YOU READING THIS PIECE That is HOW THE
HAND OF GOD WORKS AND NOT LIKE YOUR HAND THAT WORKED AGAINST ENGLAND IN THE
1986 WORLD CUP
Arjun Singh:: He “ LOVED “ music especaiily the Gazals &
Mohammed Rafi was one of his favourite
As a human being he was very fond
of music especially the Punjabi bhajans
and the ghazals Most of these songs
were sung by Mohammed Rafi and when he met Mohammed Rafi for the first time he
spoke in length and details of the ghazals and the bhajans to know more about
them and to speak more about what he knew about those songs .That was he as a
human being and as a man who loved the bhajans and the ghazals .
That was this GREAT man we called
him - AIR MARSHAL ARJAN SINGH
Today on the auspicious day of
the VISHVAKARMA POOJA we remember him on the first DEATH anniversary of this
GREAT son of India His contribution to the nation just cannot be measured in
any terms and by any means Such GREAT was his contribution to the nation
REST IN PEACE THE MOST ADMIRED SON OF INDIA
Regards
Shyamal Bhattacharjee
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