TheBravest of the Brave

Major General Ian Cardozo was commissioned into the 5th Gorkha Rifles (FF) and has taken part in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971. He is the first officer of the Indian Army to be awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry on a patrol on the Sino-Indian border in 1960. Wounded in the 1971 war, at Sylhet in Bangladesh, he overcame the handicap of an amputated limb and became the first disabled officer of the Indian Army to command an infantry battalion, a brigade and a division stationed in border areas. After retirement, he worked with disabled persons and was appointed Chairman of the Rehabilitation Council of India by the Government, an appointment which he held for nine years. His books 'Param Vir - Our Heroes in Battle' and 'The Sinking of INS Khukri' and his graphic novels chronicling the exploits of war heroes have been well-received and widely-acclaimed.Indian soldiers had rallied bravely before to many a skirmish outside their frontiers, but never with as much conviction and in stellar numbers than in the greatest of them all-the First World War. Some of the compulsion to fight, fiercely and loyally, and most-times with tragic consequences to themselves, was to earn the respect of-and consequent independence from-the Raj. Which it did... in time. But the first and foremost result was the laurel bestowed by the VC, on the soldier without a recognized name or nationality, for fearless bravery in another's battle. In this larger story, Cardozo recounts the events that saw the first and only 11 Indian bearers of the Victoria Cross, at the same time giving a nod to the 'enemy' soldier wherever it was due. For every soldier-yours, mine, theirs-is also an officer and a gentleman.For who can better tell a soldier's tale than another soldier? In this long-awaited but unsentimental resurrection of our dimly remembered heroes, Cardozo tells us the story of the revered Victoria Cross of our erstwhile rulers and how hard their Indian subjects fought to make it theirs.