Remembering Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw on His Death Anniversary
A Tribute to Sam Manekshaw
June 27 marks the anniversary of the passing of India’s inaugural Field Marshal, Sam Manekshaw, affectionately known as 'Sam Bahadur'. His distinguished service in the Indian Army spanned four decades, notably during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani conflict.
Born in Amritsar to a physician father, Manekshaw hailed from a family with military ties; his brother Jemi achieved the rank of Air Vice Marshal in the Indian Air Force. Over his illustrious career, he fought in five wars, starting with World War II and including the 1948, 1965, and 1971 wars against Pakistan, as well as the 1962 Indo-China War.
Manekshaw passed away from pneumonia complications at a Military Hospital in Tamil Nadu on June 27, 2008, at the age of 94. His final words were reportedly, 'I’m okay!' He was laid to rest with military honors at the Parsi cemetery in Udhagamandalam (Ooty), Tamil Nadu, next to his wife's grave.
Today, we celebrate his legacy through some of his most memorable quotes:
Iconic Quotes by Sam Manekshaw
- He who neither drinks, nor smokes, nor dances, he who preaches & even occasionally practices piety, temperance, and celibacy, is generally a saint, or a mahatma or more likely a humbug but he certainly won’t make a leader or for that matter a good soldier.
- If anyone tells you he is never afraid, he is a liar or he is a Gurkha.
- Don’t you think I would be a worthy replacement for you, Madam Prime Minister? You have a long nose. So have I. But I don’t poke my nose into other people’s affairs.
- Bhutto has made a monkey out of you.
- You mind your own business, I’ll mind mine. You kiss your own sweetheart, I’ll kiss mine. I don’t interfere politically, as long as nobody interferes with me in the Army.
- Give me a man or a woman with common sense and who is not an idiot and I assure you can make a leader out of him or her.
- You should have to fight and fight to win. There is no room for the losers. If you lose, don’t come back. You will have disgraced the country, and the country won’t accept you.
- Whether an atom bomb is necessary or not, in this world if you want to be recognized, if you don’t want to be kicked about, you have to be powerful both militarily and economically.