First Indian Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army

General (later Field Marshal) K.M. Cariappa was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army. He was Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army from 15 January 1949 to 31 March 1953.

Field Marshal K M Cariappa was born on 28 January 1900 in Mercara state, in present day Karnataka. He had his formal education in the Central High School at Madikeri, after which he pursued his higher education at Presidency College, Madras. After the end of First World War in 1918, Indian politicians of the time raised a demand to sanction Indians to the King's Commission. Cariappa received the King's Commission in 1919 with the first group of Indian cadets, and in 1933, was the first Indian officer to join Staff College, Quetta.

K M Cariappa won the award of OBE in 1945 while serving as the Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General with 26 Indian Division in the Arakans. In 1986, General K M Cariappa was honored with the rank of Field Marshal by the President of India. Field Marshal Cariappa passed away on 15 May 1993.