UK adds names of 33,000 Indian soldiers missing from First World War memorial

The names of 33,000 Indian Army soldiers who died in the First World War but missing from a memorial in Iraq have finally been commemorated in digital form. Iraq, then Mesopotamia, had been the scene of the British Empire’s largest operations outside of Europe in the early 20th century.

The Commonwealth War Grave Commission (CWGC), a charity with a remit of commemorating all Commonwealth servicemen and women who died during the two World Wars, have introduced new digital name panels for the Basra Memorial in Iraq to ensure the missing names can be included. Launched earlier this month, the digital memorial includes the names of Indian soldiers brought together for the first time alongside over 46,000 Commonwealth service personnel. “The Mesopotamia Campaign was one of the toughest campaigns in the First World War, with Indian soldiers dying in the tens of thousands; yet their names were never added on the Basra memorial,” said Shrabani Basu, CWGC Global Advisory Panel member. “It is wonderful to see the new digital panels and to finally see the 33,000 Indian names displayed as they always should have been, complete with ranks and regiments. A historical wrong is being righted. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten,” said Basu, the author of ‘For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-18’.

A significant physical update to the memorial was difficult as Iraq is not considered safe for travel and operational work at present. A digital option was chosen as an alternative until the site can be properly assessed and all the names can be properly commemorated. “The launch of these panels marks an important moment for the Commission and the commemoration of the Indian Army’s dead of the Mesopotamia Campaign,” said Dr George Hay, CWGC Official Historian.

“For the first time, the names of these men will be displayed as they should have been nearly a century ago, restoring to them the honour they deserve. This takes us a step closer to fully reversing this historical inequality while also helping people around the world engage with these casualties and their stories,” he said.

Many Indian casualties of the First World War were historically commemorated numerically or through memorial registers, rather than by name. This is one of the several known inequalities in commemoration that CWGC said it is working hard to address. The Basra Memorial in Iraq was seen as a key example of such unequal commemoration and past omission that the charity set out to reverse.

“Digital memorials will never replace our physical sites. They are designed to complement them and allow us to raise awareness of our cemeteries and memorials worldwide,” CWGC said.

“Digital tools such as this help more people discover and share the stories of over 1.7 million Commonwealth service personnel who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars. They also provide a connection when people cannot visit in person,” it stated.