When we think of World War I, the images are often fixed: muddy trenches in France, Tommy Atkins with his Enfield rifle, and the poppies of Flanders Fields. But what if we shift the lens? What if the soldier in the mud wasn’t from Manchester, but from Punjab? And what if his last name was a challenge to an empire?
The men pointed to the mud-caked, shivering Sikh with frozen beard. “Sajjan Singh, sir. The Rangroot.” sajjan singh rangroot
The colonel reportedly paused. He looked at the young soldier who had just done what no veteran had dared. He smiled. “No, son,” he said. “You are no longer a Rangroot. You are a Bahadur (Brave One).” When we think of World War I, the