WORLD WAR VETERANS GONE, MEMORIES LIVE ON
As the world observes centenary year of the First World War, Lucknow has its own memories. A small lane adjacent to Boys’ Anglo Bengali Inter College in Sunderbagh leads to the house of the Gargorys that proudly boasts of having participated both in World War I and World War II.
LUCKNOW: As the world observes centenary year of the First World War waged from 1914 to 1918, Lucknow has its own memories. A small lane adjacent to Boys’ Anglo Bengali Inter College in Sunderbagh leads to the house of the Gargorys, one of the oldest families in the city, that proudly boasts of having participated both in World War I and World War II.
Satish Chandra Gargory, the first of the family to join the armed forces, fought in World War I. Later, his son Surendranath Gargory was part of the British military during World War II that lasted from 1939 to 1945. Surendranath was in the Staff of Headquarters in Peshawar (Regiment RIASC, Peshawar 1941).
Small wonder the family has several priceless souvenirs of both the World Wars.
Not only this, four generations of this family have served the armed forces since early 1900s till date. To top it all, they served all three wings: army, air force and navy. Hindustan Times on Sunday visited their house to share their moment of joy, happiness and pride on this momentous occasion.
One fine day, while cleaning the room of Satish Chandra Gargory, the family hit upon a goldmine. “We found two prized medals for war service awarded to my grandfather Satish Chandra Gargory. Engraving on one of the medals reads: The Great War For Civilisation 1914-1918,” said Jitendranath Gargory, who is in his late 70s and is the last surviving grandson of late SC Gargory. He had also served the Indian Air Force between 1954 to 1969. Jitendranath also fought in the 1962 war with China and the 1965 war with Pakistan.
Presently Lieutenant Commander Siddharth Gargory is serving in the navy.
The family also found some old photographs of the first person of the family who joined the armed forces. One of the photograph has a caption that says: Office of the Field d Disbursing Officer, , Poona dated 17-07-17 in which Satish Chandra Gargory can be seen standing first from the left. The record says that the war was between the Central Powers (Ger many, AustriaHungary and the Ottoman Empire) and the Allied Forces (Great Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Italy and Japan).
Though memory is fading, Jitendranath talked with grit about his grandfather after whom the family has never separated itself from the armed forces.
“The centenary is being observed around the world for four years. When the war broke out, only one British colony was ready with a standing army: India (which then included present-day Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma),” he said.