After graduating from the teachers' school, Soeparno began to work at a
Hollandsch-Inlandsche School (Dutch school for natives), teaching until 1944 before moving to an elementary school. Following the
proclamation of Indonesian independence, he continued to teach as a middle school teacher for some time before joining the
Indonesian Army as a cadet. He fought in the
Battle of Surabaya,
Operation Product,
Operation Kraai, and against the
Indonesian Communist Party in the
Madiun Affair. During this period, he enrolled at the cadets' school. graduating from the army's trainer school in 1952, officer school in 1960, and the
Indonesian Army Command and General Staff College in 1965. He took part in operations against separatist movements (), and later in
purges against the Indonesian Communist Party. Soeparno's tenure had seen the , then one of Surabaya's busiest commercial centers, burn down in a fire, and Soeparno initiated its reconstruction. In 1975, he also set the establishment date of the city to 31 May 1293, commemorating
Raden Wijaya's victory over the Mongol army, despite protests from historians who disagreed with the date. Prior to 1975, Surabaya celebrated the city's establishment based on the colonial establishment of the city on 1 April 1906. His term expired on 23 January 1979, and the governor of
East Java at the time decided against selecting Soeparno for a second term. Sunandar had assessed Soeparno's tenure in Surabaya as insufficient, with the issue of traffic, flooding and industrial development still unresolved. Soeparno was given a "grade" of six by Sunandar for his tenure, while Sunandar had previously stated that he would give a "grade" of seven if his standards were met. Sunandar had also openly criticized the city's "chaos" in 1976, prompting large-scale cleanups by Soeparno. Soeparno died in 2000. ==References==