Current Events
The WW1 Sikh War Memorial
HARDEEP SINGH
Just over a year ago, I saw a strange but remarkable email from the "Sikhs At War" project asking for a donation. I paused upon reading the contents of that message about what was just being asked of us and many hundreds of others across the UK.
The project, an online portal for researching films and books about Anglo-Sikh history including Saragarhi; was asking for community members to join in a grassroots campaign to fund a new memorial, a Sikh memorial, a monument dedicated to those Gursikhs who fought and died serving during the Great War.
Amazed at the audacity of not just fundraising through the Kickstarter website but also at the large of sum of money being asked, I put forward a donation to the project. For far too long we have seen Sikh leaders pay tribute to the heroic and gallant effort of our forebears during the conflict, and even seen the issue of a permanent national monument become a quasi-political issue run by our so-called leaders.
But here was a fresh approach - asking the sangat for however much they could contribute, however little or large a sum, to a monument to inspire future generations.
My family immediately made a donation!
This is because the Sikh contribution is remarkable and worthy of being set in stone for eternity - despite being only 2% of the Indian population at the time, the Sikhs constituted 20% of the British Indian Army and were represented in over a third of the regiments at the time.
The project successfully reached its goal!
And I felt glad I could have been a part of it ... the memorial team kept in touch with the donors by updating us periodically about the development of the project -- from the design to the stone work to the sculpting.
It was all going well until a date for unveiling was set, then abruptly cancelled. I was concerned, and heard hardly anything thereafter. In all honesty, we could not help but feel that this might have been another scam by someone to make money.
But then an answer which not just allayed my fears but made me feel proud - the memorial’s chairman and chief organiser was a modern day soldier in the guise of our ancestors - a British Sikh Army reservist deployed on overseas operational deployment to the Middle East, which explained why the memorial unveiling was cancelled.
Months later, and with Remembrance fast approaching I heard that the memorial would be unveiled and given to the nation ahead of the UK's Remembrance Day commemorations.
A fitting tribute and at a perfect time - we as Sikhs should never forget the sacrifices of our forebears, by ensuring that the nation - indeed the world - knows and remembers and honours them.
On 1 November, 2015 The WW1 Sikh War Memorial will be unveiled by dignitaries at the National Memorial Arboretum in England. It is my deep desire that people travel from far and wide to see it. It can only inspire our future generations to undertake great deeds, but that has to start with us: in educating our children, in ensuring that world, Sikhs and non-Sikhs, are aware of this contribution.
Only then can we be proud of what we have achieved as a prosperous and colourful community, that has prospered but not forgotten the sacrifices made by those who made the world a safer place.
October 20, 2015