Unveiling of Statue of Risaldar Badlu Singh, WW1 VC Recipient

01 September 2019, Jhajjar, Haryana: Victoria Cross recipient Risaldar Badlu Singh’s statue was unveiled in his native village Dhakla  in Jhajjar district on Sunday. Six sandstone memorial marker stones, duly inscribed, had been presented to the organizers by the USI. These were also duly installed during the ceremony. The memorial markers were jointly unveiled by the then Raksha Mantri and UK Secretary of State for Defence at the joint USI-British High Commission ‘India and the Great War’ reception held at the residence of the UK High Commissioner on   30^th Oct 2014.

    The Governor of West Bengal Shri Jagdeep Dhankar & Gen VK Singh unveiling the Statue

West Bengal Governor Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar presided over the event. Badlu Singh was among the 11 men from undivided India who received the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry available to Indian soldiers, during the First World War.

Badlu Singh was born on 13 January 1876. He enlisted with the 14th Murray’s Jat Lancers on 10th September 1895, being commissioned as a Jemadar on 5th January 1915. He was promoted to Risaldar on 9th January 1917. When the First World War broke out, the regiment initially stayed in India and provided drafts for service with other cavalry regiments. Badlu Singh was sent, along with a troop from 14 Murray’s Jat Lancers, and attached for service to the 29th Lancers (Deccan Horse), which first served in France and later in Palestine.

Inaugural Plaque at the event

He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the face of the enemy in Palestine. His citation reads: “For most conspicuous bravery and self-sacrifice on the morning of the 23rd September 1918, when his squadron charged a strong enemy position on the west bank of the River Jordan, between the river and Khes Samariveh Village.”

Union Minister Gen VK Singh and state Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar were also present. In addition, Brigadier Gavin Thompson, Defence Adviser at the British High Commission in Delhi, paid floral tributes to the brave Indian who sacrificed his life in Khes Samariveh, Palestine during World War I on September 23, 1918.

The USI presented books on World War I, published by USI-CAFHR to the three distinguished VIPs. The organisers felicitated the USI, represented by Lt Col BS Varma (Retd), former Assistant Director USI; British DA Brigadier Gavin Thompson and Lt Gen Aditya Singh (Deccan Horse).

Badlu Singh’s family member with Brig Gavin Thompson, British DA (second from left), Lt Gen Aditya Singh, Former GoC in C, Southern Command, Deccan Horse and Col BS Varma (L to R)

Brig Gavin Thompson, British DA, being presented with the memento

Memento presented by the organisers to felicitate the USI