Pran Nath Thapar

He was the fifth Chief of Army Staff of the Indian army.

General Pran Nath Thapar was born on May 23, 1906 into a prominent Punjabi family. He was the youngest son of Diwan Bahadur Kunj Behari Thapar of Lahore. After graduating from Government College, Lahore, he trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. His wife Bimla Thapar (née Bashiram), whom he married in March 1936, was the eldest daughter of Rai Bahadur Sahgal Bashiram and granddaughter of Rai Bahadur Ramsaran Das. General Thapar had four children, including the veteran journalist Karan Thapar. The historian, Romila Thapar is his niece and the conservationalist and tiger expert, Valmik Thapar is his great nephew. The writer, Nayantara Sahgal was his sister-in-law, the second of the three daughters born to Jawaharlal Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.

He was commissioned into the 1st Punjab Regiment in 1926. He did his regimental duties with the 1st Punjab Regiment for ten years and later attended the staff courses at Quetta and Minley Manor in England. He served in Burma during the second World War in 1941 and later in the Middle East and Italy. He was appointed as Assistant Military Secretary in 1945. He commanded 1st Battalion of Punjab Regiment in Indonesia in 1946 and later went on to serve as the Commander of the 161 Indian Infantry Brigade in East Bengal. During the Partition of India, Thapar officiated as the Director of Military Operations and Intelligence. In November 1947, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. He served as the Chief of the General Staff for a few months and later as Military Secretary until August 1949. He was appointed Master General of Ordnance on August 1949. He commanded an Infantry Division for four years till 1954 and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in 1954 as Commander of a Corps. He was selected to attend the Imperial Defence College, London in 1955. After successful completion of the course, he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command. He became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Command in 1959. Thapar took over as Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army on 8 May 1961 and served until 19 November 1962. He was also Colonel of the Rajputana Rifles.

After retirement, he was appointed as Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan from August 1964 to January 1969. He died on his farm in Chhattarpur, New Delhi on 23 June 1975 at the age of 69.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pran_Nath_Thapar