On October 31, 1914, at Hollebeke, Belgium, Sepoy Khudadad Khan from 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis, was in the machine-gun section of his battalion and was working one of the two guns. The British officer in charge of the detachment had been wounded and the other gun was put out of action by a shell. Sepoy Khudadad Khan, although wounded himself, continued working his gun after all the other five men of the detachment had been killed. He was left by the enemy for dead. He later managed to crawl out and rejoin his unit. For his heroic deeds, he was awarded Britain’s highest medal for valour, the Victoria Cross (VC). At 26, Khudadad, who later rose to the rank of Subedar, became the first native-born Indian to win the medal.
Here began the story of Victoria Crosses won by Indians. A story immortalised by deeds of heroism. A story whose mortal link with the present generation snapped with the passing away of Subedar and Hony Capt Umrao Singh, a resident of Haryana, last month. At 86, Captain Umrao Singh was the last surviving Indian VC winner.
According to Brig Sant Singh (Retd) President of the War Decorated India, an association of Indian gallantry awardees, as many as 40 VCs were awarded to Indian soldiers (including those who later moved to Pakistan) for gallantry in various campaigns around the globe as part of the British Indian Army during the era of the Raj.
Though the story of Indian VCs started from the battle at Hollebeke, the first Indian soldier to receive the VC was Subedar Darwan Singh Negi of the 1st Battalion of 39th Garhwal Rifles.
According to his citation, when on the night of November 23-24, 1914, near Festubert in France, when the regiment was engaged in retaking and clearing the enemy out of the British trenches, although he had been wounded at two places in the head, and also in the arm, he was one of the first to push round each successive traverse, in the face of severe rifle fire and bomb explosions at close range.
Though Subedar Khan’s actions pre-dated those of Subedar Negi, he was in fact the second recipient of the VC. Subedar’s Negi’s VC is reported to be on display at the Garhwal Rifles Centre at Lansdowne in Uttaranchal. Subedar Khan is said to have retired from the Army before the Partition and settled down in an area that is now in Pakistan.
Though instituted in 1856, the right to receive the VC was extended to Indian native soldiers only in 1912. Till then, the Indian Order of Merit (IOM) was the highest decoration for gallantry that could be awarded to Indian soldiers. This is interesting as the largest number of VCs won in a single day—24—was in India in 1857 at Lucknow during what in India is called as the First War of Independence and the British refer to as the Sepoy Mutiny. All awardees were British.
"The award of the VC to Indian soldiers greatly enhanced their prestige and respect," says Mandeep Bajwa, a Chandigarh-based defence analyst. "The VC is recognised the world over as a symbol of extreme courage and it gave Indian troops their due," he adds. Post-Independence, the VC was replaced by the Param Vir Chakra.
Till date, 1,355 VCs have been awarded. With the death of Capt Umrao Singh, the number of surviving VC winners has come down to just 12. Till he was alive, Capt Umrao Singh was a legend in his home district of Jind in Haryana.
He was also a powerful motivating force for youngsters, a large number of whom have joined the forces.
According to records, Capt Umrao Singh was awarded the VC for fighting off repeated attacks made on his section by the Japanese during the Arakan advance in December 1944. When all ammunition had been expended, Captan Singh closed in upon the enemy by engaging in hand-to-hand fighting. He felled three enemy soldiers before being knocked unconscious. Later, when a counter-attack regained the position, he was found badly wounded beside his gun, with 10 dead Japanese lying around him. He was awarded his VC by King George VI in October 1945. He retired from the Army in 1965.
The VC is arguably the most widely recognised gallantry award in the world and some say, also the most prestigious. In India, which has a chequered history of warfare, not much, however, is known about the gallantry award winners, including post-Independence awards. Unfortunately, in India gallantry award winners do not get public recognition and respect as they do in many other countries where many honours are bequeathed on heroes.
In the United States, for example, the winner of the Medal of Honour, its highest gallantry award, is saluted first by any uniformed person regardless of rank. In Britain, it is always "VC first!" Surviving members of the Victoria Cross Association hold a convention in the United Kingdom once in two years. "A dinner is hosted in their honour by the ruling monarch," Brig Sant Singh said.
"Indian soldiers played a crucial role in both World Wars, but their role is relatively unknown. History taught in schools and colleges makes little reference to wars and battles, both pre and post-Independence in which Indian troops won laurels," says the Brigadier. The most striking example is the epic battle of Saragarhi, fought in 1897 in the mountains of the North-Western Frontier Province.
Etched in military history as one of the five greatest battles ever fought, it is taught in schools of France and figures as one of the eight collective stories on bravery published by UNESCO. Troops of 36th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment (now 4 Sikh), had died defending their post to the last man against an estimated 7,000 tribesmen. All 21 troopers killed were awarded the IOM. Except for a brief mention in history schoolbooks prescribed in Punjab, nowhere does this battle feature in the academic curriculum at the school and college levels.
Indian VCs have been in the public eye in the recent past, after there were reports of them being auctioned off, generally to anonymous buyers. "There are several websites on the Internet where details about auctions are available," Bajwa says. In fact, the Directorate of Sainik Welfare, Punjab, recently cautioned ex-servicemen against buyers and agents posing as representatives of the Army and seeking their medals on the pretext that their regiments wanted these for ceremonial purposes. There have been cases where unsuspecting ex-servicemen have been duped of their hard-earned campaign medals.
The most notable of these auctions was the auction of the VC awarded to Capt Ishar Singh, the first Sikh soldier to win a Victoria Cross. The Cross was reportedly auctioned to an unknown buyer in London in 1998 for £55,000 pounds. This was the third time this VC was auctioned.
Capt Ishar won the VC for extraordinary deeds of valour during a three-hour battle on the North-Western Frontier Province in 1921. Though he was wounded, he captured a Lewis machine gun and shielded the medical officer with his body while the doctor attended to the wounded. Then a sepoy with the 28th Battalion of the Punjab Regiment, he was commended by King George V, who wrote that the "award was well and gallantly won.’’ During his military career, Ishar Singh had won several other decorations. He died in 1963.
He was a resident of
Nainwan village in Hoshiarpur. His family members were deeply upset
over the VC being "lost" and had made efforts at that time
to pool in resources to get the decoration back. While the Sainik Rest
House at Hoshiarpur has been named after Ishar Singh, the family has
built a small memorial to keep the war hero’s
Earlier this year, there were reports of another Indian Victoria Cross, along with a group of 12 other medals won by Subedar Major Agansing Rai of the 5th Gurkha Rifles, being auctioned for an astounding £115,000. He had won the Victoria Cross during the Battle of Imphal in June 1944. He was decorated for magnificent display of initiative, outstanding bravery and gallant leadership, which so inspired his company that in spite of heavy casualties and a superior enemy force, two important positions were wrestled back from the enemy. The group included the 1939-45 Star and post-Independence medals like the United Nations Medal for Congo.
Last of the ‘Victorians’
The 50th anniversary of the end of World War II was one among the several mega-celebrations organised in the UK during the fading years of the last century. The recurrent theme of almost all ceremonies was the hope that the carnage of the battlefield must not be allowed to inflict humanity in the new millennium.
It was appropriate that the Indian contingent to the celebrations would include soldiers decorated with the Victoria Cross, the foremost award for gallantry on the battlefield. Of the 32 Indian awardees of the VC during World War II, only 11 were alive at that time. Four could not take the journey to UK due to old age and illness. That left seven and they were glad to participate.
Despite multiple infirmities through battle injuries and years of frugal rural living, their looks belied the fact that they had entered their seventies. All had the immaculate carriage of proud soldiers even though the six Gorkha war veterans had various grades of flab around their midriffs. The seventh was Subedar and Hony Capt Umrao Singh. Over six-feet tall, of ram-rod stance, flat-bellied and broad chested, he was somehow the cynosure of all eyes. The way he walked up to Queen Elizabeth at the Buckingham Palace, any drill sergeant-major of the Coldstream Guards would be envious of his calibrated and firm strides. Breaking all precedence of the ceremonial ettiquette, the gathering burst into spontaneous applause!
On another occasion when
the VC Indians, alighting at the car-park, walked past the formidable
bear-skin helmeted guardsmen to enter the Buckingham Palace
fore-court, John Major, the Prime Minister happened to drive past
them. When from the corner of his eye he caught the sun glint on their
VC medals, the Prime Minister had his Bentley halt. He walked up and
saluted them all and greeted each with a firm hand shake.
Dismissing his car, John Major escorted them to the venue of the function. Striking conversation through his aide*, he enquired if the war veterans had any hardships which needed attention. Umrao Singh was prompt to state that when he first drew his VC allowance in 1946, the currency exchange rate was Rs 2 to £1. Now 50 years later, the allowance handed out to him was at the same old exchange rate. Is not that unjust, he enquired? John Major was visibly upset at this revelation and in all seriousness said that this must be the gravest of all bureaucratic lapses for which Her Majesty’s Government holds itself fully accountable.
A week later, when Umrao and his VC companion alighted the air-liner at New Delhi, they were received by an officer from the British High Commission with the news that with immediate effect their VC allowance will be admitted to them at the prevailing currency exchange rate or the next higher rate but never lower than that day’s.
But how and why did we in India allow this injustice to pass for full 50 years? In UK if a man (nationality notwithstanding) with a VC or MC pinned on chest were to walk out, chances are that five out of 10 passers-by would halt in mid-stride, smile and nod in salutation. In India even though righteous wars and warriors have been glorified by the gods through the epic Mahabharata, yet not one in 1,000 will know what a PVC, MVC or VrC look like, leave alone greet its wearer.
Six months later in March 1996 Christopher Thomas, the South Asia correspondent of The Times (London) drove to Umrao Singh’s home at Village Palra (Jhajjar district, Haryana) with the news that Her Majesty’s Government had enhanced the VC annual allowance from £100.00 to £1300.00. Obviously, Umrao Singh was astounded with the prospects of this windfall. Recovering his composure, he rushed to his wife Vimla who was frying paranthas on a wood-fire and said: "Now we can live in style."
Inviting Christopher Thomas to sit down on his charpoy, Umrao Singh brought out a bottle of Old Monk rum. Cracking the seal open, he filled two large steel tumblers almost to the brim,. Handing one to Christopher and holding his own in the left hand, Umrao came to attention and giving a smart salute said: "This is for John Major, the Prime Minister of Britain ! He has made me happy and proud." There was a glow on Umrao Singh’s face in the thought that he would now pass his allotted days with the dignity due to a VC soldier.
Well, Umrao Singh the last of the VC veterans of the Indian Army passed away on November 21 2005, on his 86th birthday. He was cremated with full military and state honours. Moments before the pyre was lit, the Army Chief fully bemedalled, saluted his mortal remains.
And that brought to my mind the concluding words from General Douglas Mac Arthur’s speech to a joint session of the US Congress:
"Old soldiers never die; they simply fade away."