India shoulder title Indian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers IEME

The Commander-in-Chief of British forces approved the raising of the Indian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (IEME). On 1 May 1943, the Mechanical Engineering Directorate at General Headquarters was formed and units were allocated. On 15 October 1943, actual transfer of personnel from the Indian Army Ordnance Corps (IAOC) to IEME took place. Since then, 15 October is observed as EME Corps day. On 15 September 1944, Lt. Gen. Sir Clarence Bird was appointed as the Colonel Commandant of IEME. After Indian independence, the corps dropped the 'I' from its name and came to be known as the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME). With the proliferation of high technology, the modernisation of the Indian Army in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in use of electronics in all types of equipment which necessitated the corps to change its outlook from electrical to electronics. Thus, the corps was re-christened as the "Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers" on 1 January 2001.