Army Day 2021: Each year, India celebrates January 15 as Army Day, which marks the day when Lt Gen KM Carriappa became the first countryman to be appointed as chief of the Indian Army.

Army Day celebrations take place across the nation, but the main parade is held at Cariappa Parade Ground in Delhi cantonment.

A brief history of the Army Day shared on Twitter by the Indian Army read: “General (later Field Marshal) KM Cariappa was appointed as Commander In Chief of the Indian Army on 15th January, 1949 and was the first Indian to be appointed as Commander In Chief. Army Day is celebrated on this day. He adopted the slogan ‘Jai Hind’, which means ‘Victory to India'”.

So who was KM Cariappa in whose memory the day is celebrated?

Field Marshal Sir Kodandera Madappa Cariappa was the first officer of the Indian Army to hold a five-star rank. He had led his troops in the World War II and the first Indo-Pak war of 1947. Fondly called ‘Kipper’, by his colleagues, Cariappa received military training during World War I (1914-18).

Cariappa was among the first Indians to be selected for the military training. Following his training in Indore, he joined the British Indian Army shortly after the end of World War I. Later he was commissioned into the Carnatic Infantry.

Before taking over as the C-in-C of the Indian Army, Cariappa served as the commander of the Indian Army’s Eastern and Western Commands. Carriappa took over as commander-in-chief of the Indian Army from General Francis Butcher, the last British commander-in-chief of India.

He has also conferred the ‘Order of the Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit’ – the first-ever award of its kind given to an Indian General, by US President Harry Truman.

In 1983, he was given the title of Field Marshal (five stars). The only other person who has been conferred the title so far is Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw in 1973.

After retiring from the Indian Army, Field Marshall KM Cariappa served as High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand till 1956.