Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. We will remember them.''

 

Victoria Cross and other medals awarded to Sub-Maj Aagan Singh Rai,indian Army, which were auctioned in London recently for £115,000 ----a shame!! 

Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial

Pas de Calais, France

TO THE HONOUR OF THE ARMY OF INDIA WHICH FOUGHT IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM, 1914-1918, AND IN PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE OF THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHOSE NAMES ARE HERE RECORDED AND WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE. On October 31, 1914, at Hollebeke, Belgium, Sepoy Khudadad Khan from 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis, was in the machine-gun section of his battalion and was working one of the two guns. The British officer in charge of the detachment had been wounded and the other gun was put out of action by a shell. Sepoy Khudadad Khan, although wounded himself, continued working his gun after all the other five men of the detachment had been killed. He was left by the enemy for dead. He later managed to crawl out and rejoin his unit. For his heroic deeds, he was awarded Britain’s highest medal for valour, the Victoria Cross (VC).  Sub Khudadad Khan

The battles on the Western Front in which the Indian Army took part: La Bassee 1914, Ypres 1914-15, Givenchy 1914, Aubers, Bazentin, Morval, Messines 1914, Gheluvelt, Neuve Chapelle, Loos, Delville Wood, Armentieres 1914, Festubert 1914-15, St Julien, Somme 1916, Flers-Courcelette and Cambrai 1917--- ''They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

A moment of contemplation

The Mayor lays a wreath on behalf of the people of the city

Remembering their sacrifice

At midday on Sunday 26 September, a new war memorial, built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, was unveiled in close proximity to the Chattri Indian Memorial in Patcham. It is designed to pay tribute to some of the one and half million Indian soldiers who fought for the British Empire during the First World War. The new memorial bears the names of 53 Indian soldiers who died in Brighton and were cremated on the site of the Chattri memorial. 

In memory of those Indian Soldiers who who fought and

 died so far away from their Country----


YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

SOMME WW1-INDIAN SOLDIERS REMEMBERED,THANK YOU 

FRANCE

 

KEREN PASS ERITREA-INDIAN SOLDIERS REMEMBERED, THANK 

YOU ERITREA AND ETHIOPIA

Sikh and Hindu cremation memorial - Keren Eritrea.

GAZA CEMETERY -INDIAN SOLDIERS REMEMBERED, THANK 

YOU ISRAEL AND JORDAN

  ''W                        -                 ''What struck me about the Gaza War cemetary was not the ‘unlikeliness’ of its tranquility, nor the variety of nationalities and faiths buried there (over 3,600 soldiers of different countries, including India, Egypt, Canada, France, Belgium, Russia, Scotland, England, Greece…), but the craftsmanship of Ibrahim Jeradeh, the 72 year old retired gardener and caretaker who tended and nurtured the cemetery for over 50 years before passing the task on to his sons.''----visitors remarks.

 FORLI CEMETERY-INDIAN SOLDIERS REMEMBERED, THANK 

YOU ITALY

   

NEUVE CHAPPELE INDIAN WAR MEMORIAL

TO THE HONOUR OF THE ARMY OF INDIA WHICH FOUGHT IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM, 1914-1918, AND IN PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE OF THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHOSE NAMES ARE HERE RECORDED AND WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE-THANK YOU FRANCE 

IPKF MEMORIAL - SRI LANKA, THANK YOU SRI LANKA

 DEATH RAIL ,THAILAND-INDIAN SOLDIERS REMEMBERED, THANK 

YOU THAILAND

ATHUILLE WAR CEMETERY -INDIAN SOLDIERS REMEMBERED, 

THANK YOU ENGLAND

POPPIES IN MEMORY OF THE BRAVE-----And finally , a tribute to a man I never met. I am including  a picture and a letter that I recieved pertaining to Sgt D S Sidhu,  a cousin of my Dad,  whose plane  had been shot down by the Germans on a mine laying mission off the coast of Denmark in 1944. The Stirling bomber ( W7513 )was lost with  the entire crew on board.The plane and crew were never found.His name is on Panel 147 on the Runnymede Memorial in London.

News

27 June 2012

                                                          News articles by date

                A national Memorial to commemorate the tragic loss of 55,573 young Bomber Command airmen in the Second World War will be unveiled at a ceremony in Green Park, London, at 1200 tomorrow, 28 June 2012.

During the 30-minute ceremony, Her Majesty the Queen will unveil a nine foot high bronze sculpture depicting seven Bomber Command aircrew. A Bomber Command veteran will read an exhortation before the act of remembrance. The ceremony will end with a flypast by five RAF GR4 Tornado bomber aircraft crewed by today’s Royal Air Force. This will be followed by a flypast at 1230 by the RAF BBMF Lancaster Bomber, PA474, which will drop poppies over Green Park as a message of remembrance for the 55,573 Bomber aircrew lost.

And that is how I recieved a poppy petal----------------

Stirling W7513 crew - Sgt. David Church on extreme left, Sgt. Patrick Torre Hunter 2nd left, Sgt. Devinder Singh Sidhu 3rd from left, centre Sgt. Keith Halliburton (the three on the right of Sgt Halliburton most probably are Air/Bmr Sgt Thomas Scarfe , Air/Gnr SgtCharles Henry George Boxalland Air/Gnr Sgt Alexander Clunie Howell