Jawala Singh Guram was born into a Sikh family in the village of Gura in Punjab, India, in about 1880. He joined the army at 18, was married at 20, and had one child, Phuman Singh Guram.
“Jawala Singh’s family had a history of military service dating back to the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh,” said Harjot Guram, Jawala’a great-great grandson.
It was common back then for Sikhs, especially those from small farming villages, to join the British Indian Army and Jawala was no exception. He enlisted as a gunner on June 22, 1888. He was placed in the No. 2 Bombay Mountain Battery.
“His 27 years of military service, from 1888 to 1915, was spent with the same mountain battery,” noted Guram. “During this period, the title of the battery changed three times: No. 6 (Bombay) Mountain Battery from 1889; Jullundur Mountain Battery from 1901; 26th Jacob’s Mountain battery from 1903.”
The battery was transferred to the Pakistan Army after the Partition of India in 1947, where it still exists to this day as the 1st Jacob’s Battery (Baloch).
“The Indian Army’s mountain artillery was an elite corps and the batteries were invariably in great demand for service with expeditionary forces,” explained Guram. “The No. 6 (Bombay) Mountain Battery was sent to Lushai and Burma from 1889 to 1892 and then to the Sudan in 1896 to serve in the Dongola Expedition. “In 1897 the Battery was sent to the Tochi Valley, and it was here that Jawala Singh, as No. 2479 Gunner, was awarded the Indian Order of Merit for conspicuous gallantry during the Maizar outbreak.”
Jawala Singh Guram rose through the ranks. In 1906, he was awarded the rank of jemadar, the lowest rank for a Viceroy’s commissioned officer. Jemadars were in charge of platoons. In 1911, Jawala was awarded the rank of subadar, a rank equivalent to a warrant officer, but senior in rank to warrant officers in the British Army. Subadar was the second-highest rank an Indian soldier could achieve.
“Generally speaking, there was just one subadar on the establishment of an Indian mountain battery,” Guram explained. “In effect, Jawala Singh was his battery’s senior Indian officer.”
In 1911, Jawala was rewarded for his then 23 years of service by being chosen to be part of a group of 187 soldiers to represent the British Indian Army at the coronation of King George V, held at Hampton’s Court Palace in London.
In 1914, as the world spiraled into the Great War, the 26th Jacob’s Mountain Battery was immediately mobilized. The battery, and Jawala Singh Guram, were sent to Egypt to defend the Suez Can as part of the British Force in Egypt, spending about six months there.
“He was subsequently appointed to the Order of British India,” said Guram, “with the honorary title of Bahadur, in recognition of his services there.”
In 1915, on a day that is now known each year as Anzac Day, April 25, Jawala and the 26th MB—fighting as part of the 7th Indian Mountain Artillery Brigade—landed on the Turkish coastline at Gallipoli to support the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or Anzacs.
“During the landing at Anzac Cove, Jawala Singh was wounded but remained at his post,” noted Guram. “It was only when he was wounded a second time by machine gun fire and taken to the field ambulance that he divulged being wounded earlier in the battle.”
Jawala’s injuries were too much to overcome. He was also about 35. Both factors together led to his discharge from the British Indian Army.
However, as he recuperated in an army hospital, he ceased to correspond with his family back in India. Two years passed without a word. Saddened, the family thought he perished in the war and eventually held a funeral for him.
“As is customary in Sikh tradition, religious ceremonies were conducted to mark his presumed death,” explained Guram.
When Jawala recovered from the injuries he suffered in Anzac Cove, he was finally released from the hospital and began his long journey home. He arrived in Gura about six months after his funeral was held. His family members, of course, were happy to see him.
“Prior to his return a memorial was erected in his honour, and to this day that memorial still stands in his village,” said Guram.
When he was discharged from the army, he was awarded two murabbas of land, the equivalent to 50 acres, for “his lengthy and distinguished service.” The land is still held by the family to this day.
“Jawala Singh, like many soldiers, rarely spoke of his experience in the military,” explained Guram. “He returned to life in the village and lived there until his death.”
Jawala Singh Guram, Bahadur, died 1924. He was 44.
Jawala’s sacrifice, courage, and service to the war effort in World War I—like many of the Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus fighting as part of the British Indian Army—has been largely forgotten. More than 100 years later, the stories of these brave fighters are are finally coming to light.