New Delhi (Rajeev Sharma/Gurpreet Singh): More than a century after the First World War, nearly 10,000 Indian soldiers who had remained absent from official war records have finally been acknowledged by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). The move marks one of the largest revisions to the Commission’s casualty database in decades and restores recognition to thousands of servicemen from undivided Punjab.
The newly identified names emerged through the Punjab Registers Project, a collaborative initiative involving the CWGC, the UK Punjab Heritage Association and the University of Greenwich. Researchers examined historical military registers preserved at the Lahore Museum, which documented hundreds of thousands of recruits from Punjab during the war years.
Following years of verification, the Commission confirmed that 9,909 soldiers, who had previously not been included in its records, would now receive formal commemoration as First World War casualties.
The project relied on rare archival documents that listed enlistment details of soldiers from the region. Researchers discovered that many men who lost their lives during the conflict had never been officially commemorated, largely because they died within India or in areas that were not classified as active battle zones under the administrative practices of that period.
The inclusion of these names is expected to provide long-awaited closure to many descendants who had little or no official documentation about relatives who served during the war.
Among them is Leicester-based Dr. Inder Singh Palahey, whose great-grandfather Kesar Singh left for military service but never returned home. For years, the family possessed only oral accounts of his sacrifice. The updated records have now confirmed his service details, allowing the family to trace his military history for the first time.
Historians associated with the project described the development as an important step in correcting historical omissions. They noted that while hundreds of thousands of soldiers from undivided Punjab served in the British Indian Army during the First World War, thousands never received equal recognition despite making the ultimate sacrifice.
Researchers estimate that nearly half a million recruits from Punjab—including Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and Christians—served during the conflict, forming one of the largest regional contributions to the British war effort.
The CWGC said the revision reflects its continuing effort to ensure that every serviceman who died during the World Wars is remembered, irrespective of where death occurred. Officials termed the exercise one of the Commission’s most significant record corrections since the end of the Second World War.
The updated database not only restores the identities of thousands of overlooked soldiers but also adds an important chapter to the military history of undivided India, ensuring that future generations can access accurate records of those who served during one of history’s deadliest conflicts.
