Ian Cardozo

Major General Ian Cardozo AVSM SM is a former Indian Army officer. He was the first war-disabled officer of the Indian Army to command a battalion and a brigade. He is an amputee due to a war injury.

Military career Cardozo graduated from the National Defence Academy and then attended the Indian Military Academy, from where he was commissioned into & later commanded the 1st Battalion of 5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) or 1/5 GR (FF) He has also served with 4/ 5 Gorkha Rifles and has fought two wars alongside them-Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Cartoos means a cartridge in Hindi.

After the fall of Dhaka, Cardozo stepped on a land mine and his leg was critically injured. Due to non-availability of morphine or pethidine, and absence of medics, his leg could not be amputated surgically. He subsequently used his khukri to amputate his own leg. Afterwards, his unit captured a Pakistan Army surgeon, Maj. Mohammad Basheer, who operated on Cardozo. However, the veracity of the account has been questioned by Brigadier (Retd) Rattan Kaul stating that Cardozo stepped on a mine set up by his own forces, hence was a battle accident casualty and was brought to battalion medical post and Captain DK Sengupta, Regimental Medical Officer was the one who cut the hanging ligament. Later, a Pakistani surgeon amputated his ankle in a Pakistani hospital in Sylhet. According to Rattan Kaul, there were several witnesses to the event. Rattan Kaul's version was also produced at the instance of Press Council of India in newspaper, The Hindu on August 2, 2023.

Later career After his amputation, Cardozo had a wooden leg. Despite this, he maintained his physical fitness levels and beat a number of able-bodied officers in battle physical fitness tests. He then put his case to the Chief of Army Staff at the time, Gen. Tapishwar Narain Raina, who then asked Cardozo to accompany him to Ladakh. After observing that Cardozo could still walk in the mountains through snow and ice, Gen. Raina allowed him to command a battalion. A similar situation occurred when he was to take command of a brigade.

Military awards and decorations

Personal life Cardozo is married to Priscilla and has three sons. He is also a marathon runner, and regularly takes part in the Mumbai marathon on his prosthetic limb.