Career
The third highest military decoration in India for the services rendered by him during the Kashmir Operations carried out by India during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. Hegde was the first to make a landing in the Mangalore International Airport, then known as Bajpe Aerodrome on a District of Columbia-3 (Dakota) airliner on 25 December 1951. His passenger was Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.
He retired from service in 1968.