Page 182 - Leadership in the Indian Army

as sofa sets and carpets. When Sam saw all this, he was very angry,
knowing the ordeal the men must have undergone carrying all this up on
their backs. The battalion had finished its tenure and was due to go to a

peace station. ‘I had thought you chaps are having a hard time and deserve a
good peace station,’ said Sam. ‘But seeing how comfortable you are, I think
another year will not do you any harm.’ When the CO protested, Sam gave
him a tongue lashing that he never forgot.
The Chief of Army Staff, General P.P. Kumaramangalam, was due to
retire in June 1969. Sam and Harbaksh Singh were the two contenders for
his post. Sam was senior, but Sardar Swaran Singh, the Defence Minister,

favoured Harbaksh, who had commanded the Western Army during the
1965 Indo–Pak War. However, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi decided in
favour of Sam and he became the Chief on 8 June 1969. He had reached the
pinnacle of his career, which had almost been cut short a few years earlier
when he was at Wellington. He was destined to write his name into history
books, as India’s first Field Marshal and the victor of the 1971 War.

As Chief, Sam cut a dashing figure, with his side cap and pleated shirts.
He was full of beans and his enthusiasm and energy were contagious. This,
coupled with his ready wit and sense of humour, made him a popular figure
and his visits to formations and units were looked forward to. After each
visit, there were always a few stories, which became the favourite topic of
conversation in messes and drawing rooms. On one such visit to Mhow, he
was asked to inaugurate a new wing of the Club of Central India, which has

now become the Defence Services Officers Institute. Sam noticed that the
new wing had still not been properly furnished, and when he remarked so,
he was promptly asked for some funds. He agreed to a generous grant from
the Chief’s Welfare Fund, and then said, ‘I just don’t know how to say no.
Sometimes, I thank God for making me a man, and not a woman. Can you
imagine my condition if it had been otherwise? I would have been always

pregnant!’
Sam was once invited to Bombay to inaugurate the HQ of the newly
formed Western Naval Command. When he landed at Santa Cruz airport,
the Area Commander and several other senior officers of the Army and the
Navy were present to receive him. Sam was escorted to the Mercedes Benz
that had been hired for the Chief. The trouble began when it was found that
the Chief’s flag could not be fixed on the car, as the flag post was the wrong

size. Sam’s suitcase had to be put in another car because the boot of the