Memorial service of Sikh soldier held at Arlington National Cemetery in US

Recognising valour of Sikh American Gurpreet Singh who died in a combat mission in Afghanistan over a dece ago, Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday held a service in his honour more than six months after he was memorialised at America’s most hallowed ground with placement of a memorial hestone. service was held at memorial marker of Corporal Gurpreet, first and only Sikh service member from Afghanistan campaign to be memorialised at Arlington National Cemetery.

“ ceremony that was done today was for my bror late Cpl Gurpreet Singh. He was killed in action 10 years ago in Afghanistan. We didn't do a proper burial, we h his cremation. We actually wanted to have a place at Arlington (National Cemetery),” his sister Manpreet Singh told PTI after ceremony.

After he joined armed forces, Gurpreet was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California. He me ultimate sacrifice on June 22, 2011 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan while conducting Combat Operations. He was awarded Bronze Star with Combat "V" for valour, posthumously for heroic service in Sangrin District. He was 21 when he died.

In November 2020, he was memorialised at Arlington National Cemetery with placement of a memorial hestone. His memorial marker is one of two, symbolising Sikh warriors in American wars. or one is of Uday Singh, who died in war in Iraq. Manpreet said that Gurpreet joined Marine Corps right after high school as he always wanted to be in Marine Corps.

“It took us a while. It has been a really emotional journey, even though it's been 10 years. Today we were able to get him a gravestone and a place where everybody can come,” Manpreet said.

Describing Gurpreet as part of “wonderful historical military legacy” that Sikhs carry, LTC Kamal Kalsi, who was behind organising event and was first Sikh to be granted a religious accommodation in nearly a generation, said that Sikhs have a strong connection with military.

“Today, we honoured life and service of Cpl Gurpreet Singh,” he told PTI.

“It’s really Sikh memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. We were very honoured to be able to do this. This was long time coming. He gave ultimate sacrifice in 2011. This process, because of COVID-19, took year and a half to get his memorial marker set up,” he ded.