'Respectful homage to Lt. (Dr.) Pandit Piaray Lal Atal - an unsung hero of WW-I' - by K J S Chatrath

 

 

 Late Lieut. (Dr.) Pandit Piaray Lal Atal.

World War -I was really a European war. India got sucked into it being under British colonial rule. Between August 1914 and December 1919, India had sent overseas 1,096,013 (Indian) men, including 621,224 soldiers, both officers and other ranks, and 474,789 non-combatants. Many of them died in foreign lands.  These are at best approximate figures. 

Though Commonwealth War Graves Commission , to which India contributes for the upkeep of WW-I and WW-II cemeteries the world over, does a good job, there were many who have been forgotten even in the countries of their origin. While a good deal of research has gone into the Indian combatants of the WW_I, very little has been documented systematically about non-combatant, unarmed Indians who died during WW-I and whose are commemorated in various erstwhile theaters of War. 

 This is a brief presentation on one such brave Indian who died in France during WW-I.  He was Lieut. (Dr.)   Pandit Piaray Lal Atal.  He was in the Indian Medical Service attached to the 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis. He held the rank of  Lieutenant Indian Army. He was  born August 2, 1872.

He died at Ypres, France in the destruction of a hospital due to shell fire while he was attending to a wounded officer. He died on November 23, 1914, aged 42. 

He was son of Kishanlal Atal, of Hardoi, United Provinces and was the husband of Tara Atal. One of his sons Hira Lal Atal rose to become a Major General, while another son Kanhaiyalal ‘Bagga’ Atal was a Brigadier in the Indian Army. 

This brave Indian doctor lies commemorated in Panel 42, at Neuve Chapelle Memorial, France. 

 

 

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