General (later Field Marshal) K.M. Cariappa was the
first Indian Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army. He was
Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army from 15 January 1949 to 31 March 1953.
Field Marshal K M Cariappa was born on 28 January 1900 in Mercara
state, in present day Karnataka. He had his formal education in the
Central High School at Madikeri, after which he pursued his higher
education at Presidency College, Madras. After the end of First World
War in 1918, Indian politicians of the time raised a demand to sanction
Indians to the King's Commission. Cariappa received the King's
Commission in 1919 with the first group of Indian cadets, and in 1933,
was the first Indian officer to join Staff College, Quetta.
K M Cariappa won the award of OBE in 1945 while serving as the
Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General with 26 Indian Division in
the Arakans. In 1986, General K M Cariappa was honored with the rank of
Field Marshal by the President of India. Field Marshal Cariappa passed
away on 15 May 1993.
