Late Lt Col Onkar Singh Dikhit (Retd) was born
in Indore on 23 August 1921 and passed
away at Mhow on 17 May 2021 at the age
of 99 years and 9 months. Lt Col Mangal
Singh, his father, served with the Holkar
Army, and Onkar too joined his father’s
unit, the 1st Indore Infantry (State Forces),
Holkar Army during the Second World
War in 1942. His battalion was part of the
PAIFORCE (Persia and Iraq Force). In
1947, he was deputed for Kashmir
Operations and was transferred to the
Gorkha Rifles. He served with the UN
Peace Commission (Indo-China) in the mid-
50s, and thereafter joined 11 GRRC. On
11 July 1963, he raised 2/11 GR at
Clement Town, Dehradun, and he remained
associated with the battalion thereafter. After
his retirement in August 1977, he and his
wife taught at the Nigerian Defence
Academy and in civil education institutions
in Nigeria for nearly two decades. He
believed in education and sponsored the
education of many children of under-
privileged families.
His brother Major Ajay Singh Dikhit
had been killed-in-action in Congo during
UN Peacekeeping Operations in 1961. He
was a very popular person in Mhow due to
his jovial and helpful nature. He was revered
as the ‘grand old man’ of the veterans of
Mhow. This poem penned by him was also
published in the Infantry Journal, and has
been included in this issue as a tribute to this
respected veteran.
