As we recognise VE day, what is amazing to me is that 1 in 6 British armed forces were brown-skinned.
Considered expendable and therefore often the frontline, the valiant British troops regularly consisted of my undivided Indian ancestors.
The largest voluntary army in history (wow) was made up of 750k Hindus, 400k Muslims & 130k Sikhs in WW1.WW2 saw 1.25m Hindus, 800k Muslims & 400k Sikhs, standing shoulder to shoulder, as brothers, fighting the battle, sharing in this common ground.
Without the (undivided) Indian army, it is very much argued that Great Britannia and Europe would not have made it through.
As well as the red, white & blue, today, I recognise the constant bleed of orange and green too!
My paternal grandmother’s father served in WW2 as a British Medical Doctor, I still have his OBE medal and will one day pass this to my grandchildren and tell them of the contributions our lineage has served to humanity.
