Facets of Maj Gen RZ Kabraji, AVSM

Letter from son of late Maj Gen (Retd) Rustom Zal Kabraji, AVSM to LT Gen YS Panwar, Commandant, MCTE, Mhow.

Dear General,

This refers to our phone conversation regarding the sad demise of my father Maj Gen Rustom Zal Kabraji, AVSM (Retd).He passed away on the night of 21 February 2008. He was at the age of 90+. He was an old and respected officer in the Corps of Signals and some of his juniors aptly described him as the Life of the Corps !

He retired from the army on 1 June 1970 as Chief of Staff,Southern Command, Pune. At this time he was also Hon. ADC General to the President of India. The other prestigious appointments held by him during his service career were :

1. SO1 Eastern Command at that time located in Ranchi.

2. CO 1st Armoured Div Signal Regiment. This Div at the time had the famous Gen J N Chaudhari as its GOC.

3. G1 19 Div, Baramullah.

4. SO1 Southern Command, Pune.

5. Chief DS Coord, Staff College, Wellington.

6. Dy Commandant and again Commandant, School of Signals, Mhow.

7. CSO Eastern Command, Calcutta.

8. Commander 61 Mtn Brigade, where he was responsible for the liberation of rebel held Mizoram. He is the first General Officer from the Corps of Signals to command a mountain brigade in the Indian Army.

9. GOC 6 Mtn Div, Bareilly. He was then only the second General Officer from the Corps of Signals to command a fighting division.

While in Eastern Command, he was appointed by Lt Gen Henderson Brooks to pursue the famous "Henderson Brooks" report along with Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora.

He did his Staff College from Quetta.

My father was a keen golfer and he promoted the game when he was Comdt at School of Signals, Mhow. He was a very keen Radio Ham (VU 2 BK) and actively pursued the hobby right till the very end. His First Class CW operating techniques are known world over and foreign hams always comment, General "KAB" as he was fondly known as - "his CW is like music to our ears"!

He was instrumental along with Brig P S Gill to lead one of the first all army Ham Expeditions to Bhutan in 1962, giving the world Radio Amateurs to contact Bhutan for the very first time.

He was a keen angler and some of his fishing stories have gone down in history, specially when he was GOC 6 Mtn Div in the UP-Tibet area.

General, all this is from memory and as authentic as I can put down on paper, giving insights of my father, for the modern and newer generation Signal Corps.

Regards

Zal Kabraji

Address: 55 Aand Park, Aundh, Pune 411 007
Tel: +91 20 2588 0759