Remembering a Super Hero

Come eighth of October every year and the nation celebrates Air Force Day, but this year has a little more to it being the Golden Jubilee Year of a War that lasted for just fourteen days and created history in not only liberating a nation but capturing 96,000 troops; by far the largest-ever surrender in the history of military operations anywhere in the world. This, of course, was made possible by the supreme sacrifice of some of the sons of the Indian soil, and one among them was the IAF’s Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon.

Nirmaljit was born to Tarlok Singh Sekhon and Harbans Kaur in a village in Ludhiana on 17 July 1945. An Air Warrior in the IAF, Tarlok Singh went on to become a Master Warrant Officer in the organisation. Having spent all his childhood in the Air Force environment, young Nirmaljit was inspired to join the IAF and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on 4 June 1967.

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