 | ||
Lieutenant General Sami Khan was an officer of the Indian Army. General Khan served inter alia as the commandant of the National Defence Academy (India), and later, the General officer Commanding in Chief of the Central Army Command, Lucknow.
Contents
Early life
Lt. Gen Sami Khan was born in Hyderabad, India, and was commissioned in the 4th Battalion, The Madras Regiment, Indian Army. He was a member of the Royal family of Rampur, and attended Sherwood College, Nainital, and The Scindia School, Gwalior before attending the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasala.
Military career
Then-2nd Lieutenant Sami Khan joined the Indian Army on January 10, 1951 and was commissioned into the 4th Battalion the Madras Regiment. In a career spanning 38 years, Lt Gen Khan served with the United Nations in Congo, and was awarded the Sena Medal. He then attended the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, and later became the Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General of the 69 Brigade in Chaubatiya (now in Uttaranchal). In 1965, General Khan joined the 4th Madras Regiment in the Operational Theatre – Maharajke (near Sialkot). After this, Gen Sami Khan joined the battalion as a second in command to Dharchula, and took over the battalion in 1967. Thereafter, the General took the battalion to Trivandrum and left for an instructor’s job in the Central Command (Lucknow) as the GSO 1 (Ops) Air. After spending two-and-a-half to three years as such, he was posted as a full colonel and instructor to the Infantry School Mhow (near Indore in Madhya Pradesh). Having been elevated to Brigadier, he was given the task of an instructor at the Higher Command Wing’ at the college of Combat Mhow from where he picked up his rank as a Major General and commanded a division in Arunachal Pradesh. Priot to taking over as the 13th Army Commander of the Central Command in 1987, Gen Sam had a stint in the NDA Khadakvasla as Commandant, and also commanded a corps in Jammu and Kashmir. He was awarded with a Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) by the Indian government for his services to the nation. He was also recently posthumously awarded the Madhav Award 2016 by his alma matter, the legendary The Scindia School Gwalior where he had spent 4 formative years from 1944 to 1948 Jayaji House Eminent Old Boy.