![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/How-Sikh-diaspora-in-Italy-is-keeping-World-War-heroes-alive-678x381.jpg\" "\\"How")
\nMembers of the World Sikh Martyrs Military Memorial Committee and Italian government officials pay homage to martyrs at a memorial in Italy.<\/p>\n
\nMembers of the World Sikh Martyrs Military Memorial Committee and Italian government officials pay homage to martyrs at a memorial in Italy.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n \t<\/a> \t<\/a> \t<\/a> \t<\/a> \t<\/a> \t<\/a> <\/a> \t\t\t \t<\/a><\/p>\n FORLI, ITALY (TIP): For decades, the contribution of Sikh soldiers to the World Wars has largely remained confined to the broader British and Commonwealth military records. In Italy, however, a small group of members of the Sikh diaspora has been working to ensure that their distinct identity and sacrifices are not forgotten.<\/p>\n The World Sikh Shaheed Military Memorial Committee (WSSMMC), an Italy-based voluntary organization, has been leading this effort since 2016, identifying and commemorating the Sikh soldiers, who fought and died on Italian fronts during the World Wars.<\/p>\n The committee, led by members of the Sikh diaspora, including its president Prithipal Singh and executive member Manjinder Singh, has so far identified and memorialized more than 2,000 Sikh soldiers martyred during the conflicts with the help of the Italian government.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, members of the organization invited the mayors of nearly 20 Italian communes to participate in commemorative events and installed a memorial wall bearing the Sikh symbol of the Khanda at Forl\u00ec, near Bologna. The stone memorial carries the names and photographs of Sikh soldiers who lost their lives on Italian soil.<\/p>\n \u201cSince 2016, we have been searching, locating and documenting the places where Sikh soldiers were martyred fighting during the World Wars,\u201d said Manjinder Singh, a WSSMMC member, who is currently visiting Punjab.<\/p>\n At Forl\u00ec, the group conducted ardas and an Akhand Path in memory of the Sikh soldiers who, as Singh put it, \u201cdied fighting for foreigners in foreign land\u201d. The roots of the organization go back to the early 2000s, when seven members of the Sikh diaspora in Italy, along with Sikh historian Bhupinder Singh Holland and Italian Dr Roman Rossi, came together with a common objective: to locate and memorialist Sikh soldiers, who died in the World Wars.<\/p>\n Since then, volunteers have organized memorial ceremonies and prayer services at locations directly connected with Sikh soldiers killed in Italy. \u201cMost of us are businessmen and spend from our own pockets to build memorials,\u201d said Manjinder, who has lived in Italy for 25 years and owns a biscuit-manufacturing factory in Mantua. His involvement, he said, grew from a realization that existing records did not always capture the wider Sikh historical experience of the soldiers.<\/p>\n \u201cMost records of Sikh soldiers in WW I and WWII, including those in Commonwealth military records, don\u2019t necessarily tell the broader Sikh historical story \u2014 for example, the significance of Sikh regiments, community memory or how these soldiers are remembered by Sikh communities today,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are trying to create bridge between the official military record and Sikh community memory,\u201d Manjinder said. He recently visited the Sultanwind Memorial, one of the most prominent memorials built to remember Sikh soldiers of World Wars.<\/p>\n According to Singh, volunteers from the Italian community have joined the initiative and shown a growing interest in learning about the Sikh soldiers who died on their land. \u201cThey are more interested in keeping alive the stories of Sikh soldiers than our own people,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n Over the years, WSSMMC has installed memorial plaques and organized commemorative programs at several Italian locations associated with Sikh participation in the World Wars, including Cassino, Florence, Ravenna and the Sangro River, besides Forl\u00ec. Manjinder said, \u201cThe memorials have become more than monuments of war. They are spaces where military history, Sikh identity and local memory meet \u2014 keeping alive the stories of soldiers whose sacrifices still largely remain buried in archives.\u201d \t<\/p>\n \t<\/a> \t<\/a> \t<\/a> \t<\/a> \t<\/a> \t<\/a> <\/a> \t\t\t \t<\/a><\/p>\n \t
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(Story source: Neha Saini)<\/p>\n
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