Lt-Gen Stanley Menezes - Telegraph Stanley (short for Stanislaus) Leslie Menezes was born in Bombay on November 13 1922 into an Indian Roman Catholic family. His father, Thomas, became an early supporter of Irish independence while studying at the University of Dublin and held forth at Speakers" Corner in Hyde Park. The young Stanley was educated at St George's College in the hill station of Mussoorie. Aged 20 he was an officer cadet serving under British commanding officers. Decades later he said that the television series Dad's Army could pass for an accurate picture of British soldiering in pre-Independence India. Forced to join in rowdy mess evenings, he gave up alcohol for good when the British left India. During the two wars between India and Pakistan, he saw active service, guarding a strategically important high altitude pass in 1965 and fighting on the West Pakistan border in 1971 in the rank of major-general. He was denied the top appointment of Chief of Army Staff and retired in 1980 as Vice-Chief of Staff. Menezes acted as honorary liaison officer between the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Indian Ministry of Defence. He was instrumental in persuading the Commission that the burning ghat near Brighton should be refurbished and inscribed with the names of the Hindu soldiers who had been cremated there during the First World War. Until the end of his life, Menezes retained an extraordinary memory and was in demand by film-makers, broadcasters, authors and researchers on the Indian Army. He became a powerful advocate for the ordinary Indian soldier, and wrote Fidelity and Honour (1993), a well-received history of the Indian Army. At his own wish, Menezes was cremated at a military funeral in Delhi and his ashes immersed in the Ganges. He is survived by his widow, Gemma (née Coelho), and their daughter. He commuted regularly between Delhi and London, where he lived with his partner, the Indian historian Rosie Llewellyn-Jones. Lt-Gen Stanley Menezes, born November 13 1922, died May 11 2012