‘The Hero of 1965’: IAF Ace Denzil Keelor’s Tribute to Arjan Singh
Air Marshal Denzil Keelor speaks to The Quint about his former colleague Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh.
(This article was originally published on 17 September 2017 and has been reposted from The Quint’s archives to commemorate 54 years of the 1965 Indo-Pak war.)
Air Marshal Denzil Keelor speaks to The Quint about his former colleague Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh, who breathed his last on Saturday.
Keelor relives the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, talking about how Arjan Singh’s decisiveness saved the day, referring to when he decided to lead the air attack on Pakistan's forward forces, effectively changing the course of the war.
A man of adventure, Arjan Singh was close to his family in the Air Force. “Nobody was scared of him, but he could be very firm,” reminisces Keelor.
Expressing his shock at the younger generation’s lack of knowledge on Arjan Singh, Keelor urged for his name to be included in history textbooks. “People died and we lost thousands of people in the war. We must be sensitive to this,” he said.
Producer: Anubhav Mishra
Video Editor: Sandeep Suman
(This story was originally published on 17 September 2017 and has been republished to mark the day that the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 began, as Pakistani soldiers crossed the Line of Control dressed as locals.)
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