{"id":31644,"date":"2026-07-12T13:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/31644\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T13:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:38:15","slug":"italy-to-honor-sikh-soldiers-world-war-sacrifice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/31644\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy to Honor Sikh Soldiers’ World War Sacrifice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t19<\/p>\n

Hundreds of Italians and members of the Sikh community will gather on August 1 to honor the Sikh soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting for the liberation of Italy during World War II.<\/p>\n

The annual commemorative event aims to raise awareness among younger generations of Italians about the role Sikh soldiers played in the Allied campaign against German forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been organizing these events to create awareness among young Italians about the supreme sacrifices Sikh soldiers made to help liberate Italy from German occupation during the World Wars. Some elderly Italians who survived the wars still fondly remember the contribution of turbaned Sikh soldiers who traveled all the way to fight on foreign soil for the freedom of a country that was largely unfamiliar to them,\u201d said Prithipal Singh, president of the World Sikh Shaheed Military & Tempio de Sikh Novellara.<\/p>\n

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According to Singh, soldiers and officers of the Indian Army\u2019s 8th and 10th Divisions fought with distinction against the invading forces, with many making the ultimate sacrifice. He said both Italians and members of Italy\u2019s Sikh community continue to honor those who lost their lives.<\/p>\n

Smaller remembrance ceremonies are also held across Italy to commemorate the courage and valor of Sikh soldiers who fought under difficult conditions, including harsh winter weather, while maintaining their religious identity. Singh said many Italians who lived through the war remember them as \u201cgreat warriors in turbans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The August 1 ceremony will begin with the recitation of hymns from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, including the Sri Sukhmani Sahib.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, prominent Canadian Sikh businessman Baljeet Singh Chadha and his wife, Mandeep (Roshi) Chadha, visited Forl\u00ec, Italy, last week to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers.<\/p>\n

Chadha said a plaque at the Forl\u00ec memorial reads: \u201cSikh community Italy: We are today able to live with honor, dignity, and independence. In the war, they fought and died for us, wearing the turbans.\u201d The inscription is attributed to Sir Winston Churchill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe visited the Indian Army War Cemetery in Forl\u00ec, Italy. A total of 352 Sikh soldiers gave their lives during the intense Allied campaign in 1944 and 1945. The names of all Sikh soldiers are listed in the register, while some are engraved on the memorial wall and tombstones because many were cremated,\u201d Chadha said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe paid our respects by presenting flowers at the Sikh War Memorial sculpture, installed in 2011 by the Italian Sikh community. It is the first such memorial in Europe. Italian Sikhs hold a memorial service every August in memory of these soldiers,\u201d he added. \u201cIt was a deeply moving and humbling moment of remembrance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLest we forget,\u201d Chadha said.<\/p>\n

He noted that Italy is home to approximately 200,000 Sikhs and about 60 gurdwaras, with many members of the community employed in dairy farms and cheese production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"19 Hundreds of Italians and members of the Sikh community will gather on August 1 to honor the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6031,5,21890,7394,3602],"class_list":["post-31644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-italy","tag-india","tag-italy","tag-sikh-community","tag-south-asia","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}