Thousands of forgotten Punjabi WW1 soldiers recognised for first time

Thousands of forgotten Punjabi WW1 soldiers recognised for first timeImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Some 1.4 million people from the subcontinent – now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – served in the British Indian Army in WW1ByAleem MaqboolReligion EditorPublished2 minutes agoThousands of forgotten soldiers from pre-partition India who served and died in World War One are finally being recognised in the biggest update to casualty records in more than 80 years.The names of 9,909 British Indian Army servicemen are now being added to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) casualty database after they were uncovered by researchers.UK volunteers spent years looking for the names in unique registers compiled in the state of Punjab shortly after WW1.Work is now being done to trace British descendants of those whose sacrifice is now acknowledged.Image caption, Sunney Palahey, a descendant of one of the forgotten Punjabi soldiers"The circle has closed. I feel much more complete," says Sunney Palahey, a dentist from Leicester.For years he had been searching for information about his great-grandfather who he heard had gone to war and had never come back.But researchers contacted him to say his great-grandfather's name, Kesar Singh, had been found in newly examined registers and that it would now be formally added to official lists."It's been recognised by an authority, which it never was before. He is now an entry in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. All the sacrifices seem to have been worth it."He says this recognition makes him proud to feel part of a global community of those connected with service in WW1.Image caption, Entries from the Punjab Registers in the Lahore Museum, PakistanAround 1.4 million people from the subcontinent – now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – are known to have served in the British Indian Army in WW1.In the years that followed the war, officials visited every town and village in Punjab in an eff...