Subedar Major & Honorary Lieutenant D Ramachandran (Retd) 

He was born in a small undeveloped village in Tamil Nadu and completed his schooling from Government high school. He was passionate about the armed forces and was part of the National Cadet Corps (NCC - Army Wing) during his school days.

After completing school he was enrolled in the Indian Army in the Corps of Engineers (Madras Engineering Group - MEG - Bengaluru - Karnataka) as a SAPPER.

Has served with the Indian Army for 28 years and 05 months of meritorious service. He has rich experience in serving in Forward Field Areas (Jammu & Kashmir and North Eastern States which are the most terrorist and NE Moist Affected Regions), War-prone zones, and Peace Areas across the nation.

He participated in the frontline war backend combat engineering support as part of all arms concepts during the Kargil War 1999 (Operation Vijay) and actively participated in "Operation Parakaram" at the western border near Pakistan during the year 2000.

In 1994, Dr. Shankar Dyal Sharma, then president of India conferred him the Junior Commissioned Officer Rank. whereas the Indian Army promoted him from Non-Commissioned Officer to JCO as a "Naib Subedar".

In 1996, The individual was awarded the GOC-in-C commendation card for their exceptional service at Command Works Engineering in Kolkata, West Bengal, by the Eastern Command of the Indian Army Lt Gen RN Batra, PVSM, VSM (Retd), Eastern Army Command GoC-in-Chief who held the position during Jun 1993 to Feb 1996.

The officer served at India's longest airstrip runway naval air station, a strategic base for anti-enemy submarine reconnaissance and surveillance, and was posted at Garrison Engineer (NAS) Maintenance.

In 2005, he was awarded the best performer for meritorious service at INS Rajali Naval Air Station by then commanding officer Captain (now Commodore) A S Baghel, Indian Navy.

In 2007, Dr. Prathiba Devi Singh Patil, India's first woman president, conferred him the Honorary Rank of Lieutenant, equivalent to the Indian Commissioned Officer of the Indian Army.