Israel will posthumously honor Jewish Indian Gen. Jack Jacob on April 30 with a plaque at the Ammunition Hill memorial site, reported Indian media on Sunday.
Jacob, who died of pneumonia in 2016 at the age of 92, was the highest-ranked military officer in Indian Jewish history by serving as chief of staff in the Indian army.
He led India’s Eastern Army during the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971 and negotiated the surrender of the latter.
“Lt. Gen. Jacob will be honored by unveiling of a wall plaque on the wall of honor at Jerusalem Ammunition Hill for Jewish soldiers men, women and who served with distinction in foreign armies,” Samuel Marshall, a senior Jewish leader in India, told The Hindu.
Born in Calcutta in 1923 to a family who moved from Iraq to India in the mid-18th century, Jacob enlisted in the British Indian army in 1942 and continued to serve after India won its independence in 1947, eventually becoming lieutenant-general.
He had been to Israel several times, developing close relationships with former prime ministers Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin.
Ammunition Hill, located in eastern Jerusalem, was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Six-Day War.
