Shinda & Company

(Guest post by Harpreet Singh Mann)

I want to thank Sarpanch and ShindaSingh for providing this platform to spew my insignificant drivel.

I have always been fascinated with the life of a soldier, particularly those that served in the World Wars. It is amazing how War can bring soldiers together, beyond the relationship of even a sibling or a parent. How sitting in a trench or POW camp for months with a stranger could develop a bond that lasts a life time, even though no words might be spoken. In constant fear of death these soldiers shared every last dream they had with each other, and in battle they did not fight for their country or themselves, but at any given moment they fought for each other.

To this day the bones of Sikh Soldiers are still scattered all across Europe, their souls likely moving onto a destiny that matched their courage, but their legacy here seems to be forgotten. Remembrance Day comes and goes, and the image of old White Anglo Saxon veterans make their rounds around the air waves (in no way am I belittling their sacrifice). Majority of those taking part in the ceremonies have no idea the sacrifice, the blood, the sweat and likely the tears that Sikh Soldiers went through fighting to free the world from the clutches of German and Imperial Japanese rule. Without the overwhelming number of Sikh soldiers, and the martial history they brought with them, WW2 could have been lost. And Mahatma Ghandi would have realized why praising Hitler is hard to do from a gas chamber. It’s sad that some still don’t credit these forgotten soldiers, and single them out as pawns of the British Raj. There was good and evil to this War, and in retrospect Sikh soldiers did not fight solely for the British Empire, but fought for the good of mankind.

By the eve of the Second World War, Sikhs had fought on the mountains of Afghanistan, the deserts of Mesopotamia and the trenches of Flanders. With the principles of Shaheedi and battlefield heroics never being lost, and everything done according to sikh principles. My Grandfather served for India during the Indo – Pak wars, and would tell me stories of their Sikh regiment being able to pick off Muslim soldiers after they lit their beedi’s in the dark. Guru Gobind Singh ji’s bani incessantly speaks of battles, armies, combat and warfare, and why I feel no Singh/Sighnee should ever be discouraged from joining the armed forces, as this is only a step in the right direction to live according to Guru Sahibs hukam.

Indar Singh, fighting on the Somme in September 1916, wrote home:

It is quite impossible that I should return alive. [But] don't be grieved at my death, because I shall die arms in hand, wearing the warrior's clothes. This is the most happy death that anyone can die.

It was a world oblivious of the Sikh race, but it was only a matter of time before these forgotten soldiers spread our God given bravery and valour into Europe and beyond. If our legacy of sheer courage and bravery was ever lost, these forgotten soldiers helped rekindle it while winning 27 battle honours during WW2. If there was ever any doubt that we lost the warrior spirit instilled in us by Guru Gobind Singh Ji, these forgotten soldiers silenced those doubts while in the trenches of Ypres. We owe them a moment of silence on Rememberance Day, and the world owes them its freedom.

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Tagged: remembrance day, Sikh, war, world war