c1998

Flying Officer Alfred Jagjivan, who had received six shrapnels of the 20mm cannons fired by the attacking Tempest that fateful day, survives to tell his tale. The son of a preacher is a veteran pilot of the second world war and was commissioned in 1942. Having flown the Vultee Vengeance dive bomber on the Burma front, after partition he opted for Pakistan and because of the shortage of transport aircrew he was posted as Navigator. 

 Having traced him out in his house at Wah Cantt, it was a pleasant surprise to meet him fifty years after the November 4, episode. I found him confined to bed with his left arm and side paralyzed and both his legs numb and lifeless. He was touched that PAF thought it befitting to call on him. He insisted that he be picked up and placed on a chair. He wanted to talk to a PAF officer sitting up with rapt attention. He explained that with advancing age, his bullet wounds were taking their toll and the death of his 27 years old son from leukemia broke his back and he suffered a stroke. Alfred Jagjivan's spirit, however, is not broken. With a sparkle in his eyes he narrated the incident how he had volunteered to board the supply drop mission. He recalled that when the Indian Tempests wanted to air arrest them, he shouted to Dogar, ÒDo not give in, we will live for Pakistan and die for Pakistan,' Jagjivan insisted that I must convey to the Air Chief that if the nation required his services, he would come and fly again.