CHICAGO: the following are pen portraits of the top Indian (Retd) servicemen who were recently on a visit to the US.
General JFR Jacob: Lt Gen Jack Jacob was born in Calcutta and commissioned into the regiment of artillery in 1942. He saw active service with his regiment in the Middle East, Burma, and Sumatra. He was wounded in Burma. He graduated from the gunnery staff course in the UK and later the Advanced Artillery and Missile Course at Fort Sill in USA.
During his 37 years in the army he commanded artillery and infantry brigades, the artillery school, an infantry division, a corps and finally eastern army. He was Chief of Staff during the critical period prior to and during the operations for the liberation of Bangladesh. Being awarded the PVSM for his ' pivotal role'.
He conducted counterinsurgency operations in North East India culminating in the signing of a peace agreement, the 'Shillong Accord 'with the hostiles in 1975. He retired from the Army in 1978. He was Governor of Goa and also Punjab. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Punjab University.
He has authored a book 'Surrender at Dacca-Birth of a Nation' which has been translated into several languages and studied by various military establishments. Admiral Nayyar: Admiral Nayyar, the former Vice Chief of the Indian Navy, has the rare distinction of having commanded both the Western and Eastern fleets of the Indian Navy.
He also served as the Commander-In-Chief of the Southern Naval Command. He has also been closely connected with planning the growth of Indian Navy, having served as Director Naval Plans and Assistant Chief of Naval Staff Policy & Plans.
Post-retirement, Admiral Nayyar has been a member of the National Security Advisory Board and a member of the government committee on defense expenditure.
Currently he is Chairman of the National Maritime Foundation and the Forum for Strategic and Security Studies, a New Delhi based think-tank dealing with national and international relations, the global security environment, confidence building measures and defense economics.
He is also a keen student of India's domestic political scene. Admiral Nayyar is on the board of a number of corporations and has lectured extensively in India, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, China, Iran, Nigeria, and the Asia-Pacific.
Air Marshal B.D. Jayal (Retd) PVSM, AVSM, VM & BAR Air Marshal Jayal was born in Mathura, India in 1935 and schooled in the Doon School Dehra Dun from where he passed his Senior Cambridge.
He joined the National Defense Academy in 1952 and was commissioned as a fighter pilot in the IAF in 1955, being awarded the Best Pilots' Trophy, the Sword of Honor and the President's Plaque for the Best All- Round Pupil Officer of the Year.
During his operational career he qualified as a Pilot Attack Instructor and later as an Experimental Test Pilot from the Empire Test Pilots' School in Farnborough, UK and in 1962 was part of the first batch of pilots to convert on to the Mig 21 aircraft in erstwhile USSR.
His operational tours included flight-testing in the IAF test establishment and the industry, command of a Mig 21 Squadron and later a fighter base. His operational and flight-testing assignments earned him the Vayu Sena Medal and Bar to Vayu Sena Medal.
He graduated from the National Defense College in 1985. His staff appointments included the crucial planning and operational posts in Air Headquarters of Director, Air Staff Requirements, Assistant Chief of Staff (Plans), Assistant Chief of Staff (Operations) and Deputy Chief of the Air Staff.
In the latter assignment he was responsible for budgeting, acquisitions and future equipment plans of the Indian Air Force. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal AVSM and later PVSM for his contribution towards these assignments.
He took over as Air Officer Commanding-In-Chief of Eastern Air Command headquartered in Shillong in 1991 and later moved as Air Officer Commanding-In-Chief of South Western Air Command headquartered in Jodhpur.
He retired in 1993. As Deputy Chief of The Air Staff, he accompanied the then Chief of the Air Staff on a formal visit to the US in 1990. Post-retirement he was a member of the committee set up by Ministry of Defense for setting up of a National Defense University in which capacity he again visited the US in 2001. He and his wife Manju Jayal live in Dehra Dun.
He is Honorary Chairman of the governing council of Ryder Cheshire International Centre for the Relief of Suffering, a charitable organization. He continues to take active interest in national security matters and is a regular contributor to national newspapers and professional journals on security related issues.
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