British Sikh man with roots in rural Punjab receives OBE from Princess Anne

TOI Correspondent from London: A British Sikh antheral who founded the UK’s archetypal memorial to Sikhs who served during World War I has received an OBE from the Princess Royal astatine St James’s Palace for services to the commemoration of Commonwealth soldiers who served Great Britain.Capt. Jay (Jagjeet) Singh-Sohal, who founded the WW1 Sikh Memorial astatine the National Memorial Arboretum successful Staffordshire successful 2015, received the grant from Anne, Princess Royal, astatine an investiture ceremonial connected Friday.Birmingham-born Sohal, an service reservist, founded the memorial to guarantee that the sacrifice of Sikh soldiers successful WWI was remembered astatine the 150-acre site, which has implicit 400 memorials.Sohal (42), a strategical communications adept from Royal Sutton Coldfield, attended the ceremonial successful azygous to beryllium admitted arsenic an serviceman into the Order of the British Empire.

His wife, Sukhmani, and children watched arsenic his sanction was called and helium went up to Princess Anne and she pinned the OBE medal connected him. He had earlier received a rotation of parchment announcing the bid from the King and Queen.“I told the Princess Royal however overmuch it means to Sikhs to person a memorial wherever we tin bespeak connected the Sikh publication to some satellite wars and assistance archer that story. It’s humbling due to the fact that it’s a uncommon occurrence for idiosyncratic of my socio-economic inheritance to person specified an accolade.

My anticipation is it inspires much radical from divers backgrounds to service our country,” helium said.His paternal grandparents immigrated to Britain from Sang Dhesian successful Phillaur, Jalandhar, and his maternal grandparents came from Kapurthala.“I don’t deliberation they would ever person imagined their grandchild would participate specified a British order,” Sohal told TOI. “They came to a Britain successful the 1960s inactive rebuilding aft the Second World War and to a assemblage successful concern Birmingham that needed them. They were humble, hard-working radical with beardown faith-based values who earned an honorable surviving whilst remembering God and giving what they could to assistance others.

Their illustration instilled beardown Sikh values successful me. I instrumentality pridefulness successful dedicating this grant to Sardar Maha Singh and Mohinder Kaur Sohal,” Sohal said.