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{{short description|Singaporean army officer}}
{{other people||Gurcharan Singh (disambiguation){{!}}Gurcharan Singh}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = [[Colonel|COL]] [[Singapore Armed Forces ranks#Suffixes to rank titles|(RET)]]
| name = Gurcharan Singh Sekhon
| native_name = ਗੁਰਚਰਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੇਖੋਂ
| native_name_lang = [[Punjabi]]
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1937|}}
| nickname = "Father of the Engineers", "The Unsmiling Colonel", "Guru"<ref>{{Cite web|title=PIONEER - The unsmiling colonel|url=https://www.mindef.gov.sg/web/portal/pioneer/article/regular-article-detail/people/2020-Q4/09nov20_news1/!ut/p/z1/jZBPC4JAFMQ_kbznc1U8moX9UctC2_YiezATbJUSgz59dlUy323gN_OGAQEchJJdWci2rJWsen0RVmbvl94aGUVoBQxjP41029ghkgHnAeAfzR5A90TmgVhsgpjjxx_n4jz_BCCm47f_HvQL0CP0wgJEI9ubVqprDbzJ66bKgRMSajEDjo6qO8JM5a-n3rcSg1yK7O8uqzhNDUSfjYDxcP-qN_ck4e9g4WxK9wMKwFvL/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/|access-date=2020-11-19|website=www.mindef.gov.sg|language=en}}</ref>
| allegiance = Singapore
| branch = Army
| serviceyears = 1966–1989
| rank = [[File:07-RSA-OF05.svg|20px]] [[Colonel]]
| unit =
| commands = [[Assistant Chief of General Staff (Operations)]]<br /> [[Singapore Combat Engineers|Chief Engineer Officer]]<br />[[Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College|Commandant, Singapore Command and Staff College]]
| relations =
| laterwork = Managing the design and construction of golf courses
}}
[[Colonel]] [[Singapore Armed Forces ranks#Suffixes to rank titles|(RET)]] '''Gurcharan Singh Sekhon''' ([[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]: {{lang|pa|ਗੁਰਚਰਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੇਖੋਂ}}, born 1937) is a retired Singaporean army officer. Nicknamed "Father of the Engineers", he is a pioneer of the [[Singapore Armed Forces]], credited with setting up the [[Singapore Combat Engineers]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/55511901/singapore-at-50-50-sikhs-and-their-contributions|title=Singapore at 50: 50 Sikhs and their contributions|publisher=Young Sikh Association|year=2015|isbn=9789810977481|editor-last=Singh|editor-first=Malminderjit|location=Singapore|pages=66–69|editor-last2=Singh|editor-first2=Sarabjeet|editor-last3=Kaur|editor-first3=Harsimar|editor-last4=Singh|editor-first4=Hernaikh}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=23 July 2016|title=Speech by Col (Retd.) Lim Yeow Pheng|url=https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/data/pdfdoc/20160724002/SPEECH%20BY%20CHAIRMAN%20OF%20THE%20COMMEMORATIVE%20BOOK%20EDITORIAL%20COMMITTEE%20COL%20(RET)%20LIM%20YEOW%20PHENG%20AT%20THE%20LAUNCH%20OF%20'50%20SAF%20PIONEERS'%20NOSTALGIC%20MARCH%20-%209%20AUG%202015'%20BOOK.pdf|website=National Archives of Singapore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=25 August 1996|title=Speech by Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Sikh Singaporeans and Singapore Khalsa Association National Day Dinner 1996|url=https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/data/pdfdoc/lhl19960825s.pdf|access-date=19 November 2020|website=National Archives of Singapore|quote="We are honouring several of them tonight, including retired Justice Choor Singh, COL (Rtd) Gurcharan Singh, MP and lawyer Mr Davinder Singh, and this year's Businessman of the Year, Mr Kartar Singh Thakral."}}</ref> He served as the 6th Commandant of the [[Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College|Singapore Command and Staff College]] from 1979–1981, and thereafter as the Assistant Chief of General Staff (Operations) of the [[Singapore Army]], an appointment today held by an officer of [[one-star rank]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Army|url=https://www.mindef.gov.sg/web/portal/army/about-the-army/organisation-structure/!ut/p/z1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfIjo8zizf1dnD0MTIz8_N2cXAwC3d1MQ9yNggwMXM31w9EUBIc6ARX4-AR5hIUYeAYa60cRo98AB3A0IE4_HgVR-I0P14_Ca4WvOYYCTC8SsqQgNzQ0wiDTEwABiuJY/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119042057/https://www.mindef.gov.sg/web/portal/army/about-the-army/organisation-structure|archive-date=19 November 2020|access-date=19 November 2020|website=www.mindef.gov.sg|language=en}}</ref> In July 1967, he became a graduate of Singapore's first batch of officer cadets.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=PIONEER - The unsmiling colonel|url=https://www.mindef.gov.sg/web/portal/pioneer/article/regular-article-detail/people/2020-Q4/09nov20_news1/!ut/p/z1/jZBPC4JAFMQ_kbznc1U8moX9UctC2_YiezATbJUSgz59dlUy323gN_OGAQEchJJdWci2rJWsen0RVmbvl94aGUVoBQxjP41029ghkgHnAeAfzR5A90TmgVhsgpjjxx_n4jz_BCCm47f_HvQL0CP0wgJEI9ubVqprDbzJ66bKgRMSajEDjo6qO8JM5a-n3rcSg1yK7O8uqzhNDUSfjYDxcP-qN_ck4e9g4WxK9wMKwFvL/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119042034/https://www.mindef.gov.sg/web/portal/pioneer/article/regular-article-detail/people/2020-Q4/09nov20_news1|archive-date=19 November 2020|access-date=19 November 2020|website=Pioneer Magazine, Ministry of Defence (Singapore)|language=en}}</ref> Of that batch, he was the first to command a specialist branch, to hold this command alongside command of a battalion, to command the Singapore Command and Staff College, and to command the First Division of the Singapore Armed Forces.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Singapore|first=Prime Minister's Office|date=2018-12-27|title=PMO {{!}} PM Lee Hsien Loong at SAFTI Inaugural Commissioning Parade Golden Jubilee Dinner|url=http://www.pmo.gov.sg/Newsroom/pm-lee-hsien-loong-safti-inaugural-commissioning-parade-golden-jubilee-dinner|access-date=2020-11-19|website=Prime Minister's Office Singapore|language=en}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Gurcharan Singh Sekhon was born in a [[Jat]] Sikh family in 1937 to Mall Singh, a disciplinarian who owned a farm in [[Aljunied Road]] with cows and buffaloes, and who later became a successful moneylender.<ref name=":0" /> His early life was disrupted by the [[Japanese invasion of Singapore|Japanese invasion]] and subsequently [[Japanese occupation of Singapore|occupation of Singapore]], and he described these experiences as formative. He attended a Japanese school, with strict and uncaring teachers who caned their students. At home, he lived with a reality of Japanese raids. Following the [[Surrender of Japan]] in 1945, he joined [[Saint Andrew's School, Singapore|Saint Andrew's School]], which he enjoyed and where he held multiple leadership positions, a rare occurrence for non-Christians in the school at that time.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Singapore at 50: 50 Sikhs and their contributions|publisher=Young Sikh Association|year=2015|isbn=9789810977481|editor-last=Singh|editor-first=Malminderjit|location=Singapore|pages=66–69|editor-last2=Singh|editor-first2=Sarabjeet|editor-last3=Kaur|editor-first3=Harsimar|editor-last4=Singh|editor-first4=Hernaikh}}</ref> Gurcharan Singh secured a place at the [[University of Malaya]] in [[Kuala Lumpur]] in 1959, and went on to secure a degree in engineering. Following his graduation, he worked for a dredging company in Malaysia.<ref name=":0" />

== Military career ==
Some time after he began working, his father Mall Singh, and then Assistant Commissioner of Police in Singapore Gurdial Singh, called to ask him to enter the [[uniformed services]]. Singh was reluctant, but did not want to disappoint his father, so he returned to Singapore in March 1966 and underwent recruitment tests. He joined the [[Singapore Armed Forces]] three months later, at the age of 29.<ref name=":0" />

As one of the oldest recruits and one of the few with a university degree, he became an obvious choice as a group leader. He eventually became a [[Platoon leader|platoon commander]]. When the [[SAFTI Military Institute|Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute]] (today known as the SAFTI Military Institute) was established in 1967, a plan was included for a wing to train [[Combat engineer|combat engineers.]] Alongside [[Chng Teow Hua]] (who would later become Commissioner of the [[Singapore Civil Defence Force]]),<ref name=":0" /> he was selected to attend a basic engineer officer's course in [[Fort Belvoir|Fort Belvoir, Virginia]]. He left for the course having just completed his training as an officer cadet, leaving him unable to attend his own [[Commissioned officer|commissioning ceremony]].<ref name=":1" /> When they returned from the course, the two junior officers and their commanding officer, [[Major]] George Mitchell, conducted the first Engineer Commanders’ Course in Singapore, spanning April to August 1968. These officers then formed the nucleus of the Singapore Combet Engineers. Singh was fondly referred to as the "Father of Engineers". Singh remained with the combat engineers until 1984. Singh was also the first man from the first batch of SAFTI Military Institute to command the Command Staff College as well as the first man to command the First Division from his batch. At that point, Singh was one of three Sikh colonels in a group of seven colonels in the Singapore Armed Forces.<ref name=":0" />

He was later selected to attend the [[United States Army Command and General Staff College]] at [[Fort Leavenworth|Fort Leavenworth, Kansas]], from which he graduated in 1975.<ref name=":1" />

== Retirement ==
Following his retirement, Singh applied his engineering knowledge to the design and construction of golf courses. He also became a member of the [[Singapore Sports Council]], the Singapore Rugby Association, the Singapore Cricket Association and was President of the Singapore Khalsa Association.<ref name=":0" /> Singh was in charge in building the Singapore Central Sikh Temple as well assisted in building the Silat Road Sikh Temple

== References ==
<references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh Sekhon, Gurcharan}}
[[Category:Military of Singapore]]
[[Category:Military of Singapore under British rule]]
[[Category:Singapore Army]]
[[Category:Singaporean military leaders]]
[[Category:Singaporean colonels]]
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]

Gurcharan Singh Sekhon - Revision history

Bollywoodreporter471 at 04:30, 9 June 2023