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Italian city pays glowing tributes to Sikh soldiers involved in freedom struggle
On November 28, Casola Valsenio celebrated the 81st anniversary of its independence.
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Prabhjot Paul Singh - Sun, 30, Nov 2025
- 01:56 EST
- 16
Italy remembers supreme sacrifices by Sikh soldiers at independence day celebrations / Courtesy-Prithipal Singh of World Sikh Soldiers Yaadgar Committee
Roles and sacrifices made by Sikh soldiers during the liberation of Italy continue to resonate even after 81 years, as different towns and communes, villages, and cities hold their annual Independence Day celebrations.
Latest in the list is Casola Valsenio, a village that was founded in 1216 after the Casola castle’s destruction by Faenza troops. It is now a municipality in the province of Ravenna in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. On November 28,it celebrated the 81st anniversary of its independence.
The highlights of the Independence Day celebrations were fond remembrances of Sikh soldiers who made their supreme sacrifice in the liberation of Casola Valsenio.
To commemorate the occasion, the city Councillors and Seniors Eleonora Proni, Nicholas Nescito, and Maurizio Nati invited members of the Italy-based World Sikh Soldiers Yadgar Committee to join the festivities.
Going by military traditions, the organizers asked the representatives of the Sikh Soldiers committee to perform “Ardas,” which was done by ex-serviceman Sewa Singh.
Members of the Sikh Soldiers Yadgar Committee, led by its president, Prithipal Singh, paid rich tributes to the soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in the war of liberation of 1944. Wreaths were placed at the memorial by members of the freedom fighters’ group.
Mayor of Casola Valsenio Maurizio Nati lauded the role of Sikh soldiers who fought on Italian soil for the freedom of Italian territory. He said that such sacrifices were unprecedented, as the territory they got liberated was far away from the land they came from.
“The Sikhs are unique, for they made supreme sacrifices in fighting Hitler’s troops,” he told many school children who had come to participate in the Independence Day celebrations.
Local representative in the provincial assembly, Eleonora Proni, also lauded the role the Sikh soldiers played in the liberation of Casola Valsenio.
Besides Prithipal Singh, other members of the Sikh Soldiers delegation, including Manjinder Singh Khalsa, Gurmail Singh Bhatti, Jasvir Singh Dhanota, Parminder Singh Gustala, and Amarjit Singh, also recalled the sacrifices made by Sikh soldiers as part of the British Army in fighting the German soldiers during World War II.
They held that Sikh soldiers not only fought hostile weather conditions, including cold weather in many parts of Europe during World War II, but also remained loyal to the locals in fighting the aliens and made sacrifices as if they were doing it for their own land and countrymen.
Besides local political activists, leaders of business, trade, and industry, eminent civilians, and a large number of students, including schoolchildren, participated in the celebrations.
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