An officer, a gentleman and an Indian!

"He is my son no longer. He is the child of this country, a soldier fighting for his motherland like a true patriot. Many thanks for your kind gesture, but I request you release all or release none. Give him no special treatment."

Field Marshal?Kodandera Madappa Cariappa?OBE (28 January 1899 – 15 May 1993) was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Indian Army. He led Indian forces on the Western Front in the India-Pakistani War of 1947 over Jammu and Kashmir. General Cariappas's pain point would always be that he could not drive the Pakistan Army entirely out of the state of Jammu & Kashmir due to political intervention and a United Nations mandate.

He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army in 1949, the first Indian to head a genuinely professional army. He is one of only two Indian Army officers to hold the Five-star rank of Field Marshal, a unique honour, the other being Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.

In 1945, Colonel Cariappa was promoted as Brigadier, becoming the first Indian officer to attain the rank fully. Later that year, Cariappa was made the commander of the Bannu Frontier Brigade in Waziristan, present-day Pakistan. During this time, Colonel Ayub Khan – later Field Marshal and President of Pakistan (1962–1969) – served under his command. Unlike earlier commanders who tried to keep the local tribes under control by using arms and force, Brigadier Cariappa adopted an alternate approach by extending friendly relations to them- which proved a far more effective tactic. Conciliation was a better measure in the hostile environs and lawless terrain. This was appreciated by the head of India's interim government, Jawaharlal Nehru.

The British set up the Skeen Committee in 1939 to examine the options for the Indianisation of the Indian Army's officer ranks. Before this, most officers in the armed forces were Englishmen, with Indian only occupying the ranks. As Cariappa was one of the most senior Indian officers, the British held several discussions with him. General Cariappa was a tough man who believed in fairness and equity. He expressed his displeasure at the treatment of Indian officers in the Army. He stressed the discrimination shown toward Indian officers regarding appointments, promotions, benefits and allowances to which European officers were entitled but Indian officers were not. General Cariappa's intervention went a long distance in Indians being treated much more favourably in the British Indian Army.

General Cariappa was a stickler for propriety and fairness. The surrender of the Indian National Army (INA) to the British after heroic resistance was an emotive issue in India on the cusp of independence. Under great duress, he refused to induct former Indian National Army personnel commanded by Subhash Chandra Bose into the Army, keeping the organization out of political affairs and maintaining its autonomy. He, however, felt dramatically for the condition of the captured soldiers and secured better living conditions for them. The INA's slogan?Jai Hind?which means "Victory to India", was adopted by Cariappa; it became a formal phrase between personnel to greet each other and remains so to this day. Lt. General ( Rtd.) Sanjiv Chachra tells a fascinating story of his interaction with the Field Marshal. He first met Cariappa as an eleven-year-old when the ageing soldier urged the young Sanjiv Chachra to join the Army as an officer. Several years later, and now an officer, Sanjiv Chachra met him again and reminded him of the conversation. The older Field Marshal smirked at the young officer and said, " Now prove yourself as a good and able officer"—vintage Cariappa indeed.?( Lead with Courage and Humility - Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra Ep 03?| Rajnish Virmani )

During the 1965 war, General Cariappas's son, Nanda, an airforce pilot (later Air Marshal K. C. Cariappa) was shot down over Pakistan, and he bailed out. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war (POW) without recognising his identity. On realising the identity of the wounded soldier at Kargil, Radio Pakistan immediately announced the capture of the younger Cariappa to a stunned India. General Ayub Khan contacted General Cariappa, who lived a retired life at Mercara, his hometown in Karnataka, with information about his son's safe condition. When Ayub Khan offered to release his son immediately, Cariappa is reported to have scoffed at the idea and dismissed it immediately. He told him to give his son no better treatment than any other POW. Cariappa told Ayub Khan, "He is my son no longer. He is the child of this country, a soldier fighting for his motherland like a true patriot. Many thanks for your kind gesture, but I request you release all or release none. Give him no special treatment."

Field Marshal Cariappa was a man true to his word and, by all accounts, took his job very seriously. He was a soldier adventurer in an age where chivalry and honour were as important as winning. He was said to be more British than the British in his habits but remained a true Indian. It is said that he smoked personally initialled Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes (ordered direct from London in batches of 1,000) and was an avid reader of the Bhagwat Gita too. An officer, a gentleman and an Indian!