A 10-feet tall bronze statue of a Sikh soldier adorning a sharp turban, an immaculate uniform and carrying a rifle will soon be unveiled in Smethwick in West Midlands County in the UK.
The ‘Lions of the Great War’ sculpture which has been designed by renowned artist Luke Perry will be a tribute to thousands of troops from the Indian subcontinent who served in the British Army between 1914 and 1918.
Funded by the local Guru Nanak Gurudwara, the sculpture will stand on a 6-feet granite rostrum carrying inscriptions of the names of the regiments in which the soldiers served along with an explainer on the statue’s significance for the long-established South Asian community.
The statue will be installed in a newly created public space with seating and lighting.
More than 83,000 turbaned Sikh soldiers sacrificed their lives and more than 1,00,000 were injured during the two world wars.
Indian soldiers who were wounded fighting at Flanders recuperating at Bournemouth in England, Bournemouth, England, circa 1917. Source: Underwood Archives/Getty Images
Sikh warriors at that time fought in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and made insurmountable contributions on the Western Front and at Gallipoli, alongside their British, Indian and Commonwealth counterparts.
Historical evidence indicates that the turbaned cavalrymen were regarded as fearsome warriors whose loyalty and fighting tenacity was highly regarded within the British Army so much so that they won 10 of the 22 Military Crosses for showcasing bravery in the battlefield.
Earlier in 2014, a similar 8-feet high bronze statue of the highly decorated officer pilot, the late Squadron Leader Mahinder Singh Pujji Distinguished Flying Cross was unveiled in Gravesend in South East England.
While in the following year, a national memorial to Sikh soldiers was unveiled in Staffordshire, also in the West Midlands.
