For Britain's Future,They Gave Their Past

[Guest guest]

57 years late, UK honours its Indian war heroes

RASHMEE Z AHMED

 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2002 07:55:58 PM ]

 

LONDON: Fifty-seven years late and after 2.5 million Indian soldiers

gallantly served, bled and died for the King and the Empire during

the Second World War, the British Queen is finally honouring their

sacrifice in stone and reminding the former Raj of its 'forgotten'

heroes.

 

 

But the controversy continues about whether Britain can really be

reminded about something it never knew or wanted to know.

 

 

This includes the heroism of 'greats' the average British schoolchild

still knows nothing about, including Subedar Khudadad Khan, the first

Indian holder of the Victoria Cross and RAF Squadron Leader Mahinder

Singh Pujji, one of the few Asian holders of a Distinguished Flying

Cross.

 

 

In an extraordinary act of remembrance, the Queen is unveiling palely-

gleaming Memorial Gates in the heart of the British capital, with the

names India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Africa, Caribbean and

Kingdom of Nepal carved into the sides.

 

 

Indian war veterans say it is the final act in a battle to inform

Britain that for its future, they gave their past.

 

 

The Indian high commissioner, along with other diplomats from the

former Raj, are attending, but India notably has been unable to

despatch the cavalry officers requested for the pomp and show of the

ceremonial.

 

 

Sources say the absence of the smartly-turned out Indian cavalrymen

was merely a logistical mix-up and that the Indian government had

always been supportive of the British act of remembrance for its

Indian dead.

 

 

The Indian-born-and-bred British peer, Baroness Sheila Flather, who

campaigned in military style for the Memorial Gates, says it is a

long overdue acknowledgement.

 

 

Flather, who raised nearly three-million pounds to build the Gates,

believes the contribution of millions of soldiers from Africa, the

Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent has "somehow been erased from

the memory of people here. We need to inform the young ethnic

minority children about this contribution. We need to inform

everybody else as well".

 

 

A spokesman for the Indian High Commission said it was true "that the

mother country (Britain) forgot and this is long overdue, which is

why it is such a worthy initiative".