Veteran victory and honour for religious tradition

Five WW II turbaned Veterans including me were refused admittance to the Lounge of Newton Legion Branch, Surrey on Remembrance Day in 1993 - even though they were invited guests. The door was barred to them unless they agreed to remove their turbans - something that observant Sikhs would never do, and even though advance clearance for dress to be worn was obtained from Parade Commander Newton Legion. Because of the ill-treatment meted out to the Veterans, a number of white Ministers, MLAs and Councillors scheduled to make speeches inside the Lounge, refused to enter in protest and walked away.

Public insult, embarrassment and humiliation of invited World War Veterans being extremely serious, the issue was picked up by local, national and International media, spreading all over the World. Not only that, it also was discussed in the Canadian Parliament, British Columbia’s Legislature and Surrey City Council and unanimously passed supporting the Veterans and condemning the Newton Legion President’s undesirable action.

Being fully involved in the episode, I spearheaded it. I wrote personal letters to the Queen, Governor General and many other dignitaries, giving full details of the incident and my views on it. The Queen very kindly sent my letter to the National Headquarters of the Royal Canadian Legion for action, who immediately amended the Legion Bylaws, permitting turbaned Veterans in all 1720 Legion Branches across Canada. Later, when I met the Queen at Victoria on August 20,1994, she asked me about the progress of the Legion’s turban issue. I thanked her for her intervention and said that the issue was resolved immediately by amending the Legion’s unscrupulous bylaws. She was though pleased to know that but remarked “ But they should not have treated you in the manner they did in the first place“. Due to intensive pressure from the Royal Canadian Legion, the three levels of Governments and the public at large, Mr Frank Underwood, President Newton Legion apologized unconditionally to the five Veterans on BC TV on December 1, 1993.

Having seen me handling the case in question, in Indian media, Reeta Sharma International Reporter of Chandigarh English Tribune came to my house in Surrey, Canada. She interviewed me on the incident for over two hours. She sent her Story to Chandigarh Tribune for publication. Her story as published in her newspaper on July 29, 1994.

Lt Col Pritam Singh Jauhal (Retd) WW II Veteran

Reeta Sharma (Reporter) says: THE 73-year-old War Veteran Pritam Singh Jauhal would put many lazybones to shame. Once offended and humiliated, he fought the battle of his pagri, symbolic of his honour and religion like a warrior.

Lesson Learnt. The five pillars of self- discipline are: Acceptance, Willpower, Hard work, Industry, and Persistence. If you take the first letter of each word, you get the acronym "A WHIP" — a convenient way to remember them, since many people associate self- discipline with whipping themselves into shape. Our bureaucracy needs a high dose of discipline to be injected into the system to enable them comprehend the ethos of a serving or a retired soldier.