7 Things to Know about IAF Marshal Arjan Singh @ 96
96-year-old IAF Marshal Arjan Singh got up from the Wheel Chair and walked up to Dr. Kalam’s Mortal Remains to pay his Last Respect at the Palam Airport yesterday. That touched the hearts of millions of people across the globe. Arjan Singh showed the spirit of a soldier with this gesture.
* Born on 15 April 1919 in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad, Pakistan), Arjan Singh, is the only officer of the Indian Air Force to be promoted to five-star rank, equal to a Field Marshal, to which he was promoted in 2002.
* With the death of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw in June 2008, he is the only living Indian military officer with a five-star rank.
* His father was Risaldar Darbara Singh of the Hodson’s Horse who had served in Gallipoli during the First World War and was wounded in Burma during World War II and retired from the Army in 1943.
* His great-grandfather was Naib Risaldar Sultana Singh, among the first two generations of the Guides Cavalry who enlisted in 1854, served with distinction in the 1857 war and was martyred during the Afghan campaign of 1879.
* Arjan Singh led No. 1 Squadron, Indian Air Force into command during the Arakan Campaign in 1944. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1944, and commanded the Indian Air Force Exhibition Flight in 1945.
* Arjan Singh almost faced a court-martial in February 1945 when he tried to raise the morale of an trainee pilot (later rumoured to be future Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh) by conducting a low level air pass over a house in Kerala, but he insisted that such tricks are needed for every cadet to be a fighter pilot.
* After he retired in 1969 at the age of 50, he was appointed the Indian Ambassador to Switzerland in 1971. He concurrently served as the Ambassador to the Vatican. He was appointed High Commissioner to Kenya in 1974. He was a member of the National Commission for Minorities, Government of India from 1975-1981. He was the Lt. Governor of Delhi from Dec 1989 – Dec 1990.
Source: Wikipedia.