Ian Cardozo

Major General Ian Cardozo was commissioned at the Indian Military Academy into the 1st Battalion of the 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force), where he received his basic grounding as a young officer. Thereafter, he took part in the Sino-Indian war of 1962, the Indo-Pak war of 1965 and the Indo-Pak war of 1971.

Wounded in the battle of Sylhet in Bangladesh, he overcame the disability of losing a leg and became the first disabled officer of the Indian Army to be approved for command of an infantry battalion and brigade. He retired from this appointment as Chief of Staff of a corps in the north-east. On retirement, he worked in the area of disability with an NGO and as vice president of the War Wounded Foundation, before being appointed by the Government of India as chairman of the Rehabilitation Council of India, where he worked for nine years.

He has taken up writing as a hobby, and his books Param Vir, The Sinking of INS Khukri, The Bravest of the Brave: The Indian VCs of World War I, The Indian Army in World War I: 1914-18 and Lieutenant General Bilimoria: His Life and Times have been widely acclaimed. He is also working with an illustrator on graphic novels-about the courage, competence and sacrifice of the Indian soldier-of which eleven have been published so far.