Spending the last day of the year with Indian martyrs of World War II in Arezzo, Italy- by K J S Chatrath

 Each one of us bids farewell to the year gone by in one's own way. I spent 31st December 2023 in a cold, foggy cemetery a few kilometers out of the small town of Arezzo in Italy. There is a World War -II cemetery there, where 1265 soldiers of the Allied Forces lie buried/commemorated. Out of these 362 are Indian martyrs. Walking through this cemetery, what stunned me was that out of these 42 Indians had died at the ages of 17, 18 and 19 - in a War which was not theirs. 

I paid my respects to these 362 Indians on my own behalf and on behalf of 1.35 crore Indians.

 
Here is a photo of one of the commemorative stones with details of the name, Unit and the age of the martyr.

45705 RIFLEMAN
JAS DAYAL SING RAI
4TH B W O GURKHA RIFLES
27TH JULY 1944
AGE 19

I took photos of all the 362 commemorative stones of Indian soldiers in this cemetery and plan to get those printed in a book form, at my own expense- for documenting the details of the Indian martyrs. Incidentally, I have already got printed 7 books pertaining to details of Indian soldiers and non-combatants of World War-I, who are lying commemorated in various cemeteries of France.

                                                    This young Indian died at age 17.

Zarbad Shah

12th Frontier Force Regiment

25th July 1944

Age 17.