First World War Indian soldiers commemorated in England in seaside ceremony
Indian Memorial Obelisk bears two inscriptions, one side in English and the other side is a translation in Urdu
First World War Indian soldiers commemorated in England in seaside ceremony
London: A seaside village in southern England commemorated the contributions and sacrifice of Indian soldiers who fought in World War I, known as the Great War, at a memorial created in honour of the army hospitals that cared for the wounded at the time.
The Friends of the Indian Soldiers Memorial and New Milton Town Council joined hands to organise a commemoration earlier this week at the Indian Memorial Obelisk located in Barton-on-Sea in Hampshire.
The Friends of the Indian Soldiers Memorial, a group formed last year, is keen to promote and share the heritage and history of the memorial – which was originally unveiled over a century ago in July 1917 in honour of the Indian troops who convalesced at Barton-on-Sea during World War 1.
“As we stand here today on the seafront, we can only hope that when they walked here, they would have been greeted by local people who would have thanked them for coming here and fighting their war,” Shrabani Basu, the UK-based author of ‘For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front, 1914-1918’, said in a keynote address at the event.
“And they would also be happy to know that over a 100 years later we would gather in this spot and remember them. Today there are descendants of the soldiers living in Britain who can be proud of what their ancestors achieved… Let us remember that there is a corner of a British field that is forever India. And it is our shared history that makes our shared future,” she said.
The British Indian historian also spoke of how over 73,000 Indian soldiers gave their lives in foreign fields during the British colonial period and also shared some of the stories of bravery and sacrifice that won many of them royal honours and medals.
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