Content area
Full Text
Soldier, Patriot, Intellectual, Family Man
Brigadier (Retd) Usman Khalid passed away on Monday, 31st March 2014 surrounded by his loving family after a long illness In Thames Hospice in Windsor. London. He died peacefully in his sleep; he was 79. He leaves behind his daughters, Asma, Iffat, Omera, Umbreen and his son Abid and grandchildren Zara, Jasim, Ammar, Waleed, Ibrahim, Haadi and Adam. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Najma in December 2005.
Born in Patti, India in 1935, the son of Sufi Mohamed Yusuf (MSc in Physics and Hafiz-e-Quran), who had given up a job in the prestigious Government College Lahore to give access to education to children in rural Punjab. At the time of Partition in 1947 the family moved back to Lahore, the city of their ancestors. Usman's appetite for learning and his sharp intellect were apparent from an early age. In his first national examinations in 1950, 'Matriculation' (equivalent to GCSE in the UK), he stood first in the province of Punjab, an achievement which set the tone for his pursuit for excellence for the rest of his life.
Motivated by patriotism, Usman decided to join the Army at the age of 16 instead of continuinghis studies. He joined the Army in September 1951 at the Pre-Cadet Training School in Quetta, and further trained at Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul and was commissioned in the Artillery on the 1954, 9th PMA. The Army became his second family where he not only made a number of lifelong friends but quickly established a reputation for competence and intellect. Usman rapidly progressed in both the importance of his assignments and rank.
Usman attended the Staff College in Quetta and went on to serve as an Instructor and Senior Instructor at the same College three times. At the Staff College, his insight and flair in military strategy and tactics were highly regarded by many, including by...