Chanan Singh Dhillon

Lieutenant-Colonel Chanan Singh Dhillon (retd) (born 1920, died: 14 September 2011), was a famous Punjabi Indian Sikh World War II hero and veteran. He fought in world war two in the British Indian army. He was later taken prisoner (PoW) by the Germans in 1943. He stayed in PoW camps in Italy, France and Germany. In Germany he remained confided to POW Camp XII in Limburg near Frankfurt. In addition, the International Red Cross, Geneva who was responsible for the welfare of POWs, appointed him Chief Man of confidence. He escaped many times only to be recaptured by the Germans. One example is when with the help of some Canadian, British and Australian POW soldiers managed to dig a tunnel out of Odine POW camp, near Naples in Italy. When the Germans arrested Marshal Mussolini the Italian guards became so disheartened that they became increasingly lax, he and the others used this opportunity to escape but they were soon recaptured. The Americans rescued him in 1944, where first he was taken to Paris, then bought to London and then sent back to India. After WW2 he rose to the rank Lieutenant-Colonel in the Indian Army. After retiring he became president of the ex-services league (Punjab and Chandigarh), in India. He has tireless campaigned for the full recognition of the sacrifice and courage of the Indian-subcontinent, African and Caribbean origin soldiers who fought in WW2 for the allies and the British. This campaign was realised by the building of a large memorial in London (Memorial Gates) on August 1, 2001. Queen Elizabeth laid the foundation of the memorial on August 1, 2001 and she inaugurated it the next year, on November 6, 2002.

He expired on 14 September 2011, at the age of 91.

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