UK's Imperial War Museum collects Indian stories from World War II

London, Aug 6 (PTI) Britain's Imperial War Museums (IWM) has launched a major collections project entitled 'India's War', inviting members of the public to share stories and memorabilia relating to Indian experiences of serving in and living through the World War II.

By the end of the war in August 1945, the Armed Forces from the Indian subcontinent were the second largest fighting force drawn from Commonwealth nations, after Britain.

According to IWM, 89,000 South Asian military personnel gave their lives fighting on almost every battle front Britain was engaged in, with 28 Indian armed forces personnel awarded the Victoria Cross – the highest award for gallantry in action.

“While IWM has significant film and photography collections documenting the Indian contribution to the Second World War, these are often unable to fully convey the experiences of the war at an individual level,” said Adrian Kerrison, Senior Curator Second World War and Mid-20th Century at the IWM.

“This collecting project is an opportunity for IWM to reach out to our audiences to ensure that these powerful personal stories – significant for our understanding of the consequences of the Second World War in India and the UK – are properly represented within IWM’s collections,” he said.

The curator said India's War, which went live recently, is aimed at building IWM’s collections and strengthening relationships with South Asian communities through the conversations that it will generate.

One lesser-known story already in IWM’s collection is that of Pilot Officer Sayanapuram Duraiswamy Thyagarajan, known to his fellow fighter pilots as ‘Tiger’ Rajan.

Born on India’s eastern coast in 1918, Tiger volunteered for the Royal Air Force (RAF) and was posted to 263 Squadron as a fighter pilot.

He was killed in action at the age of 26 while attacking German ground targets in the Falaise Pocket engagement during the Battle of Normandy in 1944. His headstone, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), is written in Hindi, English and French, and reads: “This Hindu Airman is Honoured Here".

“The ‘India’s War’ collecting project seeks to gather more personal stories of service members like Tiger Rajan while also uncovering new civilian perspectives. The aim is to add more under-represented voices to IWM’s collections, documenting South Asian experiences on both the fighting and home fronts,” IWM said.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and ‘India’s War’ collecting project is aimed at highlighting the immense contribution made by members of the Armed Forces from pre-Partition India during colonial rule.

The aim is to showcase how the events impacted people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka by broadening the scope of IWM’s collections, as well as inform and shape future programming.   IWM, based in London and four other branches across the UK, is inviting people to share a story, object, photograph or document directly connected to a South Asian civilian or service member’s experience of World War II through its website iwm.org.uk. PTI AK ZH ZH