11 November
- Thread starter great one
- Start date
On this day I'd like to honor and remember one of our former students, PFC Roberto Baez, who died in the line of duty on 3 October 2005. May he rest in peace!
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/10/06/Hillsborough/A_son_gone_too_soon.shtml
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/10/06/Hillsborough/A_son_gone_too_soon.shtml
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Well imagine my surprise when I roll up there this eve and no one around. I call my buddy Jim and he says, "hey dummy, its NEXT MONDAY!" :redface::redface:
But I did put my big flag on the bike and rode proudly. Just a few horn honks and thumbs up there and back. Patriotism isn't dead, but I do think its in a recession(overall) :frown: Too bad.
Shamus that was very moving indeed I am sure those beautiful words will be appreciated by the Canadian WAB members. God bless
Ray
In Memoriam
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2003
- Messages
- 19,624
The Indian Army in World War I
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/ARMY/Images-1914a.html
One and a half million volunteers came forward from the estimated population of 315 million in the Indian subcontinent (present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - henceforth referred to, for convenience, as ‘India’). 9th Hodson's Horse near Vraignes, April 1917
© Imperial War Museum
Of these 140,000 saw active service on the Western Front in France and Belgium - 90,000 in the front-line Indian Corps, and some 50,000 in auxiliary battalions. Indians were in action on the Western Front within a month of the start of the war, at the First Battle of Ypres where Khudadad Khan became the first Indian to win a Victoria Cross. After a year of front-line duty, sickness and casualties had reduced the Indian Corps to the point where it had to be withdrawn. Nearly 700,000 then served in the Middle East, fighting with great distinction against the Turks in the Mesopotamian campaign. Indians served on the Gallipoli peninsula, and others went to East and West Africa, and even to China.
Participants from the Indian subcontinent won 13,000 medals, including 12 Victoria Crosses. By the end of the war a total of 47,746 Indians had been reported dead or missing; 65,126 were wounded.
Some 100,000 Gurkhas from Nepal took part in fighting during the First World War. Two Victoria Crosses – the supreme award for valour – were won by Gurkhas.
Their Own Stories
Top of page
Sepoy Khudadad Khan VC, 129th Battalion, Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchi Regiment Subadar Khudadad Khan VC
Khudadad Khan was born in the Punjab (now in Pakistan) in 1887. His family were Pathans who had moved to the Punjab from the North-West Frontier between India and Afghanistan. He joined the army as a sepoy or private soldier for the sake of regular pay and a chance of honour and glory.
In October 1914, almost immediately after arriving in France, the 129th Baluchis were among 20,000 Indian soldiers sent to the front line. Their job was to help the exhausted and depleted soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to prevent the advancing Germans from capturing the vital ports of Boulogne in France and Nieuwpoort in Belgium. If the Germans could manage to take Boulogne and Nieuwpoort, they would choke off the BEF’S supplies of food and ammunition, and the Allies would lose the war.
Troops of the 129th Baluchis man a trench during the First Battle of Ypres, October 1914
Troops of the 129th Baluchis man a trench during the First Battle of Ypres, October 1914
© Imperial War Museum
The 129th Baluchis, with whom Khudadad Khan was serving as a machine-gunner, faced the well-equipped German army in appalling conditions - shallow waterlogged trenches in which to take cover, a lack of hand grenades and barbed wire, and a dire shortage of soldiers to man the defensive line. They were also outnumbered five to one. When the Germans attacked on 30 October, most of the Baluchis were pushed back. But Khudadad Khan’s machine-gun team, along with one other, fought on, preventing the Germans from making the final breakthrough. The other gun was disabled by a shell, and eventually Khudadad Khan’s own team was over-run. All the gunners were killed by bullets or bayonets except the badly wounded Khudadad Khan. He pretended to be dead until the attackers had gone on - then, despite his wounds, he managed to make his way back to his regiment.
Thanks to his bravery, and that of his fellow Baluchis, the Germans were held up just long enough for Indian and British reinforcements to arrive. They strengthened the line, and prevented the German army from reaching the vital ports.
Sepoy Khudadad Khan recovered from his wounds in an English hospital, and three months later was decorated by King George V at Buckingham Palace in London with the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest award ‘For Valour’. He was the first Indian to receive the award.
Khudadad Khan returned to India, and continued to serve in the Indian Army. In 1971 he died at home in Pakistan, aged 84. Several of his descendants now live in England.
Subedar Manta Singh: 2nd Sikh Royal Infantry
Top of page
Manta Singh was born in the Punjab, northern India. In 1907, as soon as he left the village school, he joined the 2nd Sikh Royal Infantry. By August 1914, when the German army invaded Belgium and France, Manta held the rank of Subedar, and his regiment was part of the Indian Expeditionary Force sent to France.
Manta Singh
In March 1915 the Allies attacked Neuve-Chapelle and broke through the German front line. On the first day of the battle, British and Indian troops captured the town. Then the Germans counter-attacked with 16,000 reinforcements. In three days’ fighting, the British and Indian troops suffered 13,000 casualties. The Allies’ ammunition ran out, and the troops had to retreat. 5,021 Indian soldiers - about 20 per cent of the Indian contingent - were killed in heavy fighting, and Manta Singh was injured in action after helping to save the life of an injured officer, Captain Henderson. (In the Second World War, the sons of both of these men served side by side and became lifelong friends.)
Manta Singh was sent back to England, to a hospital in Brighton. The doctors told him that he would have to lose both his legs, as they had become infected with gangrene. Manta refused to think about going back to India with no legs - what use would he be to his family? Unfortunately, he died from blood poisoning a few weeks later. He was cremated in a ghat, according to Sikh beliefs.
In 1993 Manta Singh’s son, Lt Col Assa Singh Johal, was part of a delegation of the Undivided Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Association that visited the Indian war memorial at Neuve-Chapelle. Assa Singh said, "It was a moving visit of great sentimental value to us. We were able to remember and pay homage to the fallen in foreign lands."
http://www.mgtrust.org/ind1.htm
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/ARMY/Images-1914a.html
One and a half million volunteers came forward from the estimated population of 315 million in the Indian subcontinent (present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - henceforth referred to, for convenience, as ‘India’). 9th Hodson's Horse near Vraignes, April 1917
© Imperial War Museum
Of these 140,000 saw active service on the Western Front in France and Belgium - 90,000 in the front-line Indian Corps, and some 50,000 in auxiliary battalions. Indians were in action on the Western Front within a month of the start of the war, at the First Battle of Ypres where Khudadad Khan became the first Indian to win a Victoria Cross. After a year of front-line duty, sickness and casualties had reduced the Indian Corps to the point where it had to be withdrawn. Nearly 700,000 then served in the Middle East, fighting with great distinction against the Turks in the Mesopotamian campaign. Indians served on the Gallipoli peninsula, and others went to East and West Africa, and even to China.
Participants from the Indian subcontinent won 13,000 medals, including 12 Victoria Crosses. By the end of the war a total of 47,746 Indians had been reported dead or missing; 65,126 were wounded.
Some 100,000 Gurkhas from Nepal took part in fighting during the First World War. Two Victoria Crosses – the supreme award for valour – were won by Gurkhas.
Their Own Stories
Top of page
Sepoy Khudadad Khan VC, 129th Battalion, Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchi Regiment Subadar Khudadad Khan VC
Khudadad Khan was born in the Punjab (now in Pakistan) in 1887. His family were Pathans who had moved to the Punjab from the North-West Frontier between India and Afghanistan. He joined the army as a sepoy or private soldier for the sake of regular pay and a chance of honour and glory.
In October 1914, almost immediately after arriving in France, the 129th Baluchis were among 20,000 Indian soldiers sent to the front line. Their job was to help the exhausted and depleted soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to prevent the advancing Germans from capturing the vital ports of Boulogne in France and Nieuwpoort in Belgium. If the Germans could manage to take Boulogne and Nieuwpoort, they would choke off the BEF’S supplies of food and ammunition, and the Allies would lose the war.
Troops of the 129th Baluchis man a trench during the First Battle of Ypres, October 1914
Troops of the 129th Baluchis man a trench during the First Battle of Ypres, October 1914
© Imperial War Museum
The 129th Baluchis, with whom Khudadad Khan was serving as a machine-gunner, faced the well-equipped German army in appalling conditions - shallow waterlogged trenches in which to take cover, a lack of hand grenades and barbed wire, and a dire shortage of soldiers to man the defensive line. They were also outnumbered five to one. When the Germans attacked on 30 October, most of the Baluchis were pushed back. But Khudadad Khan’s machine-gun team, along with one other, fought on, preventing the Germans from making the final breakthrough. The other gun was disabled by a shell, and eventually Khudadad Khan’s own team was over-run. All the gunners were killed by bullets or bayonets except the badly wounded Khudadad Khan. He pretended to be dead until the attackers had gone on - then, despite his wounds, he managed to make his way back to his regiment.
Thanks to his bravery, and that of his fellow Baluchis, the Germans were held up just long enough for Indian and British reinforcements to arrive. They strengthened the line, and prevented the German army from reaching the vital ports.
Sepoy Khudadad Khan recovered from his wounds in an English hospital, and three months later was decorated by King George V at Buckingham Palace in London with the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest award ‘For Valour’. He was the first Indian to receive the award.
Khudadad Khan returned to India, and continued to serve in the Indian Army. In 1971 he died at home in Pakistan, aged 84. Several of his descendants now live in England.
Subedar Manta Singh: 2nd Sikh Royal Infantry
Top of page
Manta Singh was born in the Punjab, northern India. In 1907, as soon as he left the village school, he joined the 2nd Sikh Royal Infantry. By August 1914, when the German army invaded Belgium and France, Manta held the rank of Subedar, and his regiment was part of the Indian Expeditionary Force sent to France.
Manta Singh
In March 1915 the Allies attacked Neuve-Chapelle and broke through the German front line. On the first day of the battle, British and Indian troops captured the town. Then the Germans counter-attacked with 16,000 reinforcements. In three days’ fighting, the British and Indian troops suffered 13,000 casualties. The Allies’ ammunition ran out, and the troops had to retreat. 5,021 Indian soldiers - about 20 per cent of the Indian contingent - were killed in heavy fighting, and Manta Singh was injured in action after helping to save the life of an injured officer, Captain Henderson. (In the Second World War, the sons of both of these men served side by side and became lifelong friends.)
Manta Singh was sent back to England, to a hospital in Brighton. The doctors told him that he would have to lose both his legs, as they had become infected with gangrene. Manta refused to think about going back to India with no legs - what use would he be to his family? Unfortunately, he died from blood poisoning a few weeks later. He was cremated in a ghat, according to Sikh beliefs.
In 1993 Manta Singh’s son, Lt Col Assa Singh Johal, was part of a delegation of the Undivided Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Association that visited the Indian war memorial at Neuve-Chapelle. Assa Singh said, "It was a moving visit of great sentimental value to us. We were able to remember and pay homage to the fallen in foreign lands."
http://www.mgtrust.org/ind1.htm
dave lukins
In Memoriam
A fine array of other VC holders from the Indian Army during 1914-1918
http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ccww1ina.htm
http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ccww1ina.htm
O
Officer of Engineers
Guest
GENTLEMEN!
This thread is for the Honoured Fallen. Leave your disdain elsewhere.
This thread is for the Honoured Fallen. Leave your disdain elsewhere.
Ray
In Memoriam
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2003
- Messages
- 19,624
It is a matter of pride to have fought for the British Empire.
No one asked us.
We volunteered and died and many of us.
The British have honoured us with medals and jagirs.
No hassles with the British Raj or the Queen.
My father fought WWII in the British Indian Army. He was an MC. He was proud of it as I am proud of his service. He was blown up by a mine in Burma. He served for the British. Therefore, Remembrance Day is a big deal for us too!
We still have great regard for the UK. That is why we have the most cordial relations with Great Britain even now and are proud to be in the Commonwealth.
Here is another of my relative who laid down his life for the British Empire:
Wing Commander K.K. Majumdar,DFC and Bar
I come from a family proud of its military heritage and thus cannot reconcile to any slight to the contributions that we and my countrymen have made.
No one asked us.
We volunteered and died and many of us.
The British have honoured us with medals and jagirs.
No hassles with the British Raj or the Queen.
My father fought WWII in the British Indian Army. He was an MC. He was proud of it as I am proud of his service. He was blown up by a mine in Burma. He served for the British. Therefore, Remembrance Day is a big deal for us too!
We still have great regard for the UK. That is why we have the most cordial relations with Great Britain even now and are proud to be in the Commonwealth.
Here is another of my relative who laid down his life for the British Empire:
Wing Commander K.K. Majumdar,DFC and Bar
I come from a family proud of its military heritage and thus cannot reconcile to any slight to the contributions that we and my countrymen have made.
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Parihaka
Dirty Kiwi
Precisely.
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JAD_333
Staff Emeritus
Hit a nerve. I never faced bullets. Time and circumstances, and good fortune, put me between wars. Born in 1939 in France; "escaped" to US. Five when the sirens and chirch bells announced the war's end. Too young for Korea. Too old for Vietnam. But I've wondered many times about how it feels to go into battle--the fear, the courage, the sudden realization death is certain. So young. So many. So seemingly senseless. It took a half a lifetime to really, really appreciate with my being what fighting men go through and what they have done for us, whether they wanted to or not.
IMO, they can't get enough medals.
Simullacrum
New member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2005
- Messages
- 272
In lonely watches night by night
Great visions burst upon my sight,
For down the stretches of the sky
The hosts of dead go marching by.
Strange ghostly banners o'er them float,
Strange bugles sound an awful note,
And all their faces and their eyes
Are lit with starlight from the skies.
The anguish and the pain have passed
And peace hath come to them at last,
But in the stern looks linger still
The iron purpose and the will.
Dear Christ, who reign'st above the flood
Of human tears and human blood,
A weary road these men have trod,
O house them in the home of God!
Frederick George Scott Aptil 1915
For the fallen.... May your great deeds/sacrafices live, eternal.!
Great visions burst upon my sight,
For down the stretches of the sky
The hosts of dead go marching by.
Strange ghostly banners o'er them float,
Strange bugles sound an awful note,
And all their faces and their eyes
Are lit with starlight from the skies.
The anguish and the pain have passed
And peace hath come to them at last,
But in the stern looks linger still
The iron purpose and the will.
Dear Christ, who reign'st above the flood
Of human tears and human blood,
A weary road these men have trod,
O house them in the home of God!
Frederick George Scott Aptil 1915
For the fallen.... May your great deeds/sacrafices live, eternal.!
sorry about the late post my great uncle ,served at Gallipoli ,he was later killed at Ypres he is buried at Tyne Cot cemetery
His name is Cpl Jimmy Rae 22 years of age and to think at that age he was a veteran
My the wind always be at your back
My the sun always shine gently on your face
My the path be smooth and gentle
My God hold you in the palm of his hand
Until we meet again Uncle Jimmy
His name is Cpl Jimmy Rae 22 years of age and to think at that age he was a veteran
My the wind always be at your back
My the sun always shine gently on your face
My the path be smooth and gentle
My God hold you in the palm of his hand
Until we meet again Uncle Jimmy
S2
, Military Professional
Corporal Oscar Pitcock
Corporal Oscar Pitcock
Co. B 364th Inf. Regt. 91st Division AEF. A proud and long-gone but not forgotten veteran of the Meuse-Argonne.
Remembrances, grandpa.
Howard M. Pitcock Master Sergeant (Retired) HHC, 70th Armored Bn. 1st Cav Div (Attached) Pusan to Pyongyang August-November 1950.
I love you, Dad.
Posted behind the false door but I'll bring it here too. If belated surely no harm done to their memories. They saw the elephant. I had the good fortune not to during my service and stand upon their giant shoulders.
Today I lost a good friend to cancer who did his time defending the frontiers of freedom in W. Germany from 1972-1974. In memory of Specialist 4 Doug Robichaud.
Corporal Oscar Pitcock
Co. B 364th Inf. Regt. 91st Division AEF. A proud and long-gone but not forgotten veteran of the Meuse-Argonne.
Remembrances, grandpa.
Howard M. Pitcock Master Sergeant (Retired) HHC, 70th Armored Bn. 1st Cav Div (Attached) Pusan to Pyongyang August-November 1950.
I love you, Dad.
Posted behind the false door but I'll bring it here too. If belated surely no harm done to their memories. They saw the elephant. I had the good fortune not to during my service and stand upon their giant shoulders.
Today I lost a good friend to cancer who did his time defending the frontiers of freedom in W. Germany from 1972-1974. In memory of Specialist 4 Doug Robichaud.
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dave lukins
In Memoriam
We where there at the same time, doing our best, just miles apart.. RIP Doug
S2
, Military Professional
Lukins Reply
Lukins Reply
Thanks Dave. He was a real good guy and I'll deeply miss him. I'm appreciative.
Lukins Reply
Thanks Dave. He was a real good guy and I'll deeply miss him. I'm appreciative.
Shamus
In Memoriam/OAF-Old Aggravating Fart
Rest in peace Doug.
S2
, Military Professional
Shamus Reply
Shamus Reply
Thanks much, Walter. He was your kind of guy.
Shamus Reply
Thanks much, Walter. He was your kind of guy.
tankie
Banned
Ditto RIP