Prithipal Singh Gill

Colonel Prithipal Singh Gill (11 December 1920 – 5 December 2021) was an Indian military officer and centenarian known for being the only soldier in the Indian Armed Forces to have served in all three of its branches.

Career Born in Patiala State on 11 December 1920 to Lieutenant Colonel (then Captain) Harpal Singh Gill of the Patiala Lancers, Gill studied at Government College Lahore. A passionate flyer, he earned a flying licence at Walton Airport in Lahore, and in 1942, without informing his family, joined the Indian Air Force. Commissioned a pilot officer, Gill was training on Harvard aircraft at Karachi when his father arranged for his transfer from the IAF as the family considered flying unsafe. For the remainder of the Second World War, Gill served on minesweepers and escort vessels, serving on convoy duties protecting shipping in the Persian Gulf. He was subsequently sent to attend the Long Gunnery Staff Course at the Army School of Artillery in Deolali, qualifying as an instructor. He ended his naval service in September 1948, and briefly served as a civil servant in the Punjab Government.

Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel on 2 August 1962, Gill commanded 71 Medium Regiment during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. Seeing action in the Sialkot sector, during a battle he personally led a mission to retrieve four of his guns which had been cut off by the enemy. and was appointed a sector commander in the Assam Rifles, stationed at Ukhrul in Manipur.

Personal life Gill married his wife Preminder Kaur (born 1927) on 24 December 1950.