Avatar Singh Cheema (1933–1989) was the first Indian man and 16th person in world to climb Mount Everest.^[1] Along with 8 others he was a part of the third mission undertaken by the Indian Army, in 1965, to climb Mount Everest after two failed attempts. The Indian Everest Expedition 1965 put 9 mountaineers on the summit on 20 May, a record that lasted 17 years, and was led by Captain M S Kohli. Cheema's fellow summiters were Nawang Gombu, Sonam Gyatso, Sonam Wangyal, Chandra Prakash Vohra , Ang Kami, H. P. S. Ahluwalia, Harish Chandra Singh Rawat and Phu Dorjee.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} He was a captain in the 7th Battalion, The Parachute regiment at that time. Later he was promoted to colonel and commanded his battalion.^[8] He is also founder of Guru Harkrishan Public School in Sri Ganganagar District, Rajasthan.^{[citation needed]}

Honors and awards

He was awarded the Arjuna award^[9] and Padma Shri^[10] for his achievements.