Village Boy to Accidental Soldier

Village Boy Becomes War Hero

A poor but determined village boy in East Pakistan, today’s Bangladesh, walked to college because he had no money for bus ride. One day, watching a young crowd jockeying to enroll in the air force, he immediately joined the line. He became one of the 18 successful candidates out of nearly 500. He later switched to army for better career prospects and became a captain within a short time. He worked in the western half of Pakistan.

In early 1971, when Pakistan Army killed thousands of people in its Eastern part, the people there started a war of independence. The death and sufferings of his people pinched the heart of the village-boy captain. He decided to join fellow Bengalis in their fight for independence.

In his fourth attempt, the captain finally succeeded to escape in a military Jeep across the border to India. But he met a serious disaster. In the darkness of night, the Jeep overturned and sank into a river with the captain trapped in it. After much difficulty, he managed to come out alive. India treated him well and sent him to the war front in Bangladesh.

The captain organized and trained an artillery unit and fought bravely against the Pakistan Army, which surrendered in December 1971. Our village boy captain became a decorated war hero in Bangladesh.

That captain is Rashed Chowdhury. He is our grandfather. We are proud of him.

Audrika Chowdhury, 7th Grade,
Aunik Chowdhury, 4rd Grade,
Mina Chowdhury, 3rd Grade
(2021)

A military officer turned diplomat, Rashed Chowdhury was born in then East Bengal at a time when the British were quitting India. Enduring a difficult childhood and struggling through adolescent life, he joined the military in 1963. As an army captain in 1971, Mr. Chowdhury switched his loyalties from Pakistan to Bangladesh after learning about the military's killings of and brutality to the people of his community in East Pakistan. In a daredevil Jeep drive through his own country's defenses, he escaped from Lahore in West Pakistan and reached the Bangladesh warfront to fight for his country's independence. His valor did not go unnoticed; he won a gallantry award. In 1976, Mr. Chowdhury moved to the Foreign Ministry. He served as his country's representative for 20 years in the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, Far East and Latin America. Married to a devoted wife for 43 years, Mr. Chowdhury and his spouse have two wonderful sons. He enjoys the retired life reading, writing, traveling, gardening, spending time in the gym, and taking pleasure in tolerating the tantrums of "three brats" -- his lovely and endearing grandkids. It is for them and the children of future generations that he hopes his memoir will inspire the drive for peace. Mr. Chowdhury authored A Soldier's Debt: Sometimes the only way to run...is to the other side in 2015 which received wide acclaim.