Born on June 4, 1930, Vishwa Nath Sharma was the first officer commissioned by the President of India to rise to the rank of Army Chief. He was commissioned into the Army in 1950. General Sharma commanded the Indian Army from 1988 to 1990, a period when India was navigating highly sensitive and challenging circumstances.
General V.N. Sharma’s father, Amarnath Sharma, was also a military officer who retired with the rank of Major General. Hailing from the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. General V.N. Sharma was the brother of Major Somnath Sharma, the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra (posthumously) in independent India. His other brother, Lieutenant General Surindra Nath Sharma, served as the Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army, and his sister, Major Dr. Kamala Tiwari (née Sharma), served in the Army Medical Corps. All three brothers completed their schooling at Sherwood College, Nainital.
V.N. Sharma joined the fifth Regular Course at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun and was commissioned into the 16th Light Cavalry on June 4, 1950. He fought against Pakistan in the Lahore sector during the 1965 conflict. He commanded the 66th Armoured Regiment and, subsequently, a mountain brigade in an insurgency-affected area.
General Sharma, who was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal for distinguished service, assumed the office of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command, on June 1, 1987, and was appointed Honorary Army ADC to the President on July 25, 1987. He assumed the office of Chief of Army Staff on May 1, 1988.
