Spectator letters: Indian soldiers, wigs, PR and 1984

We do remember them

Sir: I applaud Tazi Husain’s defence of the role played by Baroness Warsi at Westminster Abbey during the first world war and his own role in driving forward the Tempsford Memorial Trust (Letters, 23 August). But he is mistaken in believing that soldiers of the Indian army (and other Imperial forces) are not commemorated. The whole point of war memorials in the UK is to remember and honour the fallen of the town, village or institution that they came from, in that place. Few if any UK residents who fell in 1914–18 would have originated from the subcontinent. The proper place for such memorials would be their home towns in India (I use the word in its imperial, not current, context). However, he may be reassured that all fallen Indian and other Imperial troops are commemorated by name either in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery where they lie (or their ashes lie, in the case of Hindus) or on memorials to the missing such as the Menin Gate and the Neuve Chapelle Memorial.