“It is a straight forward narrative of an extraordinary person. Very few people have looked at the Army from a human angle. If they want a military thesis then I am not the man,” said the 78-year-old writer at the book’s launch at DRDO Bhavan.

Muthiah, who has authored over 20 historical books and is regarded as “Mr Madras”, said he has not digressed from his earlier subject — Chennai: “It has a strong Chennai connection. In fact, we met 20 years ago at a Madras Club library subcommittee meeting, of which he was the latest member.”

This is the first book on Gill, who was born in Bolton, England to a Scottish mother and an Indian Sikh military doctor. He fought for the British Army during World War II and then enlisted in the Indian Army after 1947.

Muthiah revealed that Gill, who was regarded as a fine paratrooper, did not know anything about paratrooping: “All he knew was how to get from one point to the other and every time he landed he ended up twisting his ankle.”

Gill’s contribution to Chennai’s education system is immense. The Punjab Association in Chennai runs the Adarsh group of schools. “Gill’s father, Guru Dayal Singh, brought over 5,000 Punjabi families from Pakistan to the south. To date, we have colonies called Gill Nagar in Chennai and people living there are completely entrenched in the culture,” said Muthiah, who began work on the book four years ago.

The research that went into the book was drawn from letters Gill wrote to his contemporaries, from British Army libraries, accounts from Brigadier Chandra Khanduri, scribbles salvaged from his wife Manmohini Gill and Prema Koshy, who researched extensively in Chennai.

Gill died in 2001 and is survived by wife Manmohini Gill, son Manjit Singh and two daughters who are based in the USA. “As long as he was alive, he never let anybody come out with a biography. Even now he must be grumbling over all this fanfare. My father made sure there was little material available on him,” said Gill’s son, Manjit Singh, a businessman based in Chennai.

The launch was attended by Manjit, Lieutenant General JFR Jacob (Retd), Vice Admiral M K Roy (Retd), Brigadier Sukhjit Singh (Retd) and Professor T V Ramana. Manmohini Gill could not attend the launch because of ill health.