Commemoration of Sikh Soldiers in Tyne Cot (Iper,Belgium) on 11th November

In the Belgian town of Ieper (south-west of Belgium),where during four long years of world war, terrible trench wars were fought;there is an arch with the names of fallen soldiers and one can read many times over the name 'Singh'. Every evening the 'Last Post' is played by the bugles but on the 11th November, every year, hundreds of Sikhs from all over Europe; especially from the United Kingdom, come and gather to take part in a special remembrance ceremony on the Tyne Cot Memorial War Cemetery to honour and commemorate the sacrifices of Sikh soldiers who died in both the First and the Second World War.


Lili van Heers(a Belgian citizen & teacher) was very pleased to watch a programme on BBC1 about Sikh heroes during the First War. Since last ten years or so she herself has been trying to inform Belgians about the Sikh religion and the Sikh people. She is of the opinion that there is a lot of ignorance amongst Belgium people on Sikhism. It may be because Sikhism is not mentioned in schools and local people are not familiar with turbaned Sikhs and unknown of the fact that quite a number of Sikhs fought and died for them; in those wars for their freedom. Therefore, if Belgian pupils could learn about the Sikh contribution to the freedom of their country at school, they would have more respect for these strange Indians with turbans and maybe the current turban problem in European schools might not be an issue.Lili has beautifully said "After all, the Sikh soldiers fought valiantly with a turban, not a helmet, for a cause that was not even theirs, so why can they not get an education with a turban on their head?"