Fond farewells to war veteran
Maidenhead: Hero helped set up town’s earliest mosque
A Second World War veteran who was awarded for his bravery holding off enemy forces in Italy has died at the age of 98.
Fazal Hussain served in the British Indian Army, 3rd Battalion, 8th Punjab Regiment and saw active service fighting Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime in Europe.
He gained recognition for his courage on November 23, 1943, when he defended his regiment’s position in Italy from advancing German forces until reinforcements arrived.
The attack proved particularly devastating with Fazal the only soldier within his regiment to avoid being wounded or killed.
After the war, the Muslim man witnessed the harrowing partition of India and Pakistan.
He came over to the UK in 1961 and settled in Penyston Road, Maidenhead, a place he would call home for the rest of his life.
Son Khalad Hussain told the Advertiser: “He was a reserved man who never spoke about his time in the army and had a strong moral sense of duty.
“Whatever he saw on that day in November 1943 really had an impact on him.
“He obviously saw a lot in his life but he just didn’t want us to feel it or know about it.”
In total, Fazal earned four medals for his contribution to the war effort including an Indian Distinguished Service Medal and a British
War Medal 1939-1945.
Fazal’s sense of duty was embodied by a picture of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh which stood proudly on his mantlepiece in Penyston Road.
He spent his working life on the production line at the former Beechams factory in Norreys Drive, where he went on to become a supervisor.
He also played a key role setting up the town’s first place of worship for Muslims in Cordwallis Road before the construction of Maidenhead Mosque in the 1980s.
Fazal passed away on August 25 and is survived by his wife Maqbool Jan Hussain, four sons, two daughters and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.