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The Remembrance Day
Does anyone remember The Remembrance Day which used to be commemorated in
our pre-partitioned educational institutions, govt. offices and by the armed
forces of the British common wealth countries by observing a silence for 2
minutes at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month
(11:11:11 that is; 11:00 am, 11 November) each year to pay homage to
the dead of the World War -1 (1914-1918)? Though the hostilities formally
ended with the signing of the armistice between Germany and the Allieds yet,
the First World War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of
Versailles on 28 June 1919.
Also little do we know of Sepoy Khuda Dad Khan (later Subedar) hailing from
Distt. Chakwal, Pakistan, who was the first ever Muslim to be awarded the
Victoria Cross – the highest British Army award for gallantry in war,
equivalent to our Nishan e Haider – during the First World War on October 31st,
1914. A Commemorative Stone was unveiled at the National Memorial
Arboretum, U.K. in his honour today by Lord Ahmed the U K Communities Minister.
Col. Syed Riaz Jafri (Retd)
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