Who is Sam Manekshaw?

Manekshaw was the first Indian Army commander to be promoted to the five-star rank of Field Marshal and was born to Parsi parents in Amritsar

Sam Manekshaw is popularly known as Sam Bahadur. Field Marshal, the fifth-star title, was attained by Manekshaw, an Indian Army officer. He spent 40 years in the Army and fought in five conflicts. He is well known for his quotations, including one that goes, “If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or he is a Gorkha”.

Manekshaw was commissioned when it was customary for newly appointed Indian officers first to be attached to a British regiment before being transferred to an Indian one. Manekshaw then enlisted in the Lahore-based 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots. Later, he was assigned to the Burmese-based 4th Battalion of the 12th Frontier Force Regiment. He was appointed quartermaster of his company on May 1st, 1938. Manekshaw, who was already proficient in Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, and English in addition to his native tongue, became a Higher Standard army interpreter in Pashto in October 1938.

Manekshaw was the first Indian Army commander to be promoted to the five-star rank of Field Marshal and was born to Parsi parents in Amritsar. His father first opposed his ambitions to join the Army, but he rebelled by suggesting that if that were the case, he should be sent to London to study as a gynaecologist. Also declining was his father. The remainder of history began after Manekshaw passed the admission exam for the Indian Military Academy. Like his military doctor father, Manekshaw aspired to become a doctor, but destiny had other plans.

He spent 40 years in the Army and fought in five conflicts: World War II, the 1947 India-Pakistan War, the Sino-Indian War in 1962, the 1965 India-Pakistan War, and the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Sam Manekshaw participated in decision-making and providing administrative solutions during the partition in 1947.

When Indira Gandhi questioned Manekshaw about the Indian Army’s readiness before the India-Pakistan war in 1971, he responded, “I am always ready sweetie.” Because of their Parsi connection (Indira’s spouse Feroze Gandhi was Parsi), he would call her sweetie or sweetheart. On the battlefield and off of it, Manekshaw managed to avoid dying a few times.

He nevertheless survived to be nonagenarian. In 1942, when he was still a young Captain serving in Burma and engaged in combat with the Japanese, he suffered catastrophic injuries after having up to nine bullets impaled in his body. His brave Sikh orderly, Sepoy Sher Singh, protected him while fighting for his life and prevented him from dying.

When asked what would have occurred if he had chosen Pakistan during the split, he responded, “Then Pakistan would have won all wars,” another of his well-known quotations. In 1972, the President issued a special decree extending his employment by six months. He went on despite his reluctance out of respect for the President.

In 1942, he received the Military Cross, in 1968, the Padma Bhushan and 1972, the Padma Vibhushan. At Wellington’s military hospital, he passed away from pneumonia. Both a national day of sorrow and no politician’s attendance at his funeral was announced.