Russell K. Haight Jr.

Russell King Haight Jr. was an American G.I. who served in three armies in multiple engagements during World War II and other wars. He is best known for his role as a prominent commander of the pro-Pakistani rebel forces during the first Kashmir War, in which he held the rank of brigadier. His testimony about Pakistan's involvement in the hostilities was cited in the United Nations debates on the Kashmir dispute.

He then switched to the British Army and saw extensive action across Europe. He was evacuated from the French coast three days after the Battle of Dunkirk evacuation, participated in the commando raid on Sark in the Channel Islands, and fought in Belgium. From September 1940 to May 1941, he served on a bomb disposal squad in London during the Blitz.

He signed up with the Azad Kashmir provisional government, then based in Rawalpindi. He was introduced to Sardar Ibrahim Khan and was given a commission as a captain and sent to the Poonch front. According to a New York Times report by Robert Trumbull, Haight was able to successfully discharge his command by playing on the vanity of the tribesmen and exploiting their tribal rivalries.

Haight is said to have had a "blaze of glory" during his command in Kashmir due to initial successes of the invasion.

By early 1948, Haight's engagement with the Kashmir War was over. Haight quit because of inadequate resources, scuffles with some of the fighters from Dir had played a role. There were also numerous assassination attempts on his life. The fighters are said to have attempted to steal Haight's truck and some captured guns, and he ended up killing a couple of them in the ensuing firefight. Trumbull states that, he was effectively a fugitive by the time he left Pakistan. He took a flight to the US with only $2.00 in his pocket.

The United States Department of State is said to have also intervened by threatening to revoke his passport and strip his citizenship. This forced him to leave Pakistan on 28 January 1948. According to journalist G. K. Reddy, then a PR official in the Azad Kashmir government, Russell K. Haight was "a senior officer of the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS)".

Haight estimated that there were 15,000 tribal fighters in Kashmir, and a similar number on the move ("coming and going on dispersed along the border"). There were also said to be a fair number of Pakistani officers on leave involved in the war. Robert Trumbull narrated: Indian sources state that Haight's actions in Kashmir, though personal, marked the beginning of American interests in Kashmir. They also claim that Haight's war role, along with British officer Major William Brown, was part greater "Anglo-American" interests. An Indian communist newspaper had described Haight as an American spy, while he was not.

Later career After returning from South Asia, Haight went back to the US Army. In 1952, Sergeant First Class Haight was stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he served as an instructor at the United States Army Engineer School.

Later life Russell Haight later pursued a career in graphic arts, operating Aardvark Associates and publishing the "Grandad's Gang" comic strip and local cartoons. He later taught in Virginia and Oklahoma schools before retiring in 1992. He died on 13 May 2006 at the Grace Living Center in Norman and was buried with full military honours at Arlington National Cemetery.