1965: Courage Unleashed

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 thereafter commanded an infantry division and retired as Chief of Staff of a corps in the Northeast. 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 is a military historian, author and war poet. His books, poems and autobiography, Cartoos Saab, have been widely acclaimed. His poems on war have been set to music and feature worldwide on leading music platforms. He is also working with an illustrator on graphic novels about the courage and competence of the Indian soldier, of which thirteen have been published so far.