Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday said it's time to recommend Field Marshal KM Cariappa for the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of India. Cariappa was the first Indian commander-in-chief of the Indian Army. He led Indian forces on the Western Front during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. He is one of only two Indian Army officers to hold the five-star rank of field marshal. The other being Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Indian Army in 1949. His distinguished military career spanned almost three decades. He was the first Indian military officer to attend the Staff College, Quetta, the first Indian to command a battalion, and was also one of the first two Indians selected to undergo training at the Imperial Defence College, Camberley, UK.