On 10 August 1938 he was admitted to the Indian Army and posted to 5th Battalion 10th Baluch Regiment (now 12 Baloch), with which he saw action in Burma.

In July 1945, he was transferred from the 5th Baluch and went on to attend the Staff College course at Quetta, and then he was appointed as the Under Secretary (Military) to the Viceroy's Coordination Council.

With a view to imparting basic military training to school and college students, he was appointed as the Director of the NCC (National Cadet Corps) in April 1948 with the acting rank of full colonel, and was promoted substantive major on 30 August 1949.

[8] He was promoted to the acting rank of Brigadier in 1951, later assuming command of the 80th Infantry Brigade in Jammu & Kashmir.

[10] On 27 February 1959 at the age of 42 years and 6 months he was promoted to acting Major General as the first Chief of Staff at the Western Command HQ in Shimla.

In June 1963, he was appointed as the Director of Military Training at Army HQ and remained there till November 1964.

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Indian military strategy was mainly defensive on the Western Front, while attacking in the Eastern Sector, culminating in the surrender of Dacca and the secession of East Pakistan into the newly formed Bangladesh.

For his command of operations in the Rajasthan Sector, Bewoor was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour.

He succeeded the popular Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the liberator of Bangladesh, as Army Chief on 15 January 1973 and held that appointment for two years and four months till his retirement on 31 May 1975.

In June 1973 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took General Bewoor into confidence and ordered him to support the project.

After an initial setback - the finding of water at the first drill site - the location of the test was shifted to the village of Malki near Pokhran, Rajasthan.

[14] A. Parthasarthi however claims in 1974 he found a note written from the PM (without her characteristic green-ink initials) to Bewoor dated as early as 15 November 1972 asking for the Army's co-operation.

His son Group Captain Anant Bewoor (Retd), served in the Indian Air Force and saw action with the IPKF in Sri Lanka and during the Siachen operations, and was the Commanding Officer (CO) of the 44th Squadron, which flies the IL-76 heavy-lift military transport aircraft.