Time Capsule: Marshal Arjan Singh (1919-2017)

Roopinder Singh

Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, who died on September 16 seven years ago at age 98, was an officer and a gentleman who served as an exemplar not only for Air Warriors but also for so many others outside the defence forces. He was a soldier, a diplomat and an administrator, and he carried out all these roles with élan.

Born in Lyallpur (now in Pakistan and renamed to Faisalabad), Arjan Singh joined the Indian Air Force’s No. 1 Squadron as a Pilot Officer in 1939, and he soon distinguished himself in the North Western Frontier Province in campaigns against the tribal forces. Promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader in 1944, he saw action in the Imphal Campaign and then in Burma (Myanmar). Lord Mountbatten, then the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command, personally pinned the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on Arjan Singh for his services. He was proud that his squadron got eight DFCs in the war, more than any other, British or Indian.

Group Captain Arjan Singh led the first flypast over the Red Ford on August 15, 1947. He was appointed the Chief of the Air Staff in the rank of Air Marshal in August 1964, in time to be tested by the war against Pakistan the next year, where the Indian Air Force acquitted itself very well. After the war, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan and was appointed the first Air Chief Marshal of the Indian Air Force, which he led until his retirement in 1969.

Appointed Ambassador to Switzerland, he and his wife Teji, who was really the wind beneath his wings, travelled so much in that country that, as she recalled: “People often said that no diplomat has gone to all these places in on our country. I would smile politely and not say that Switzerland is smaller in size than Punjab!” In 1974, he was appointed High Commissioner to Kenya for three years. In later years, he served as a member of the Minorities Commission and as Lt. Governor of Delhi.

More than his feats as a soldier and a diplomat, he drew in a wide circle of admirers for his leadership and deportment. One could see it in 2002 at Rashtrapati Bhavan after President KR Narayanan elevated him to the rank of Marshal of the Indian Air Force — he was the cynosure of attention despite the presence of then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, minister and top dignitaries. The promotion made Arjan Singh the lifelong honorary head of the force he had led. Later, he would literally sell his farm to help Air Force veterans.

When he passed away, PM Narendra Modi went to his Kautilya Marg residence to pay his respects. Present at the cremation were former PM Manmohan Singh, then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and several top dignitaries. A 17-gun salute was fired and the Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi jets flew in the “Missing man” formation for the final flypast, saluting the Marshal of the Indian Air Force for the last time.