This Is The Picture Of Grave Of Private Bukkan Singh From 8Th Battn. C. E. F Located At Kitchener’s Mount Hope Cemetery, Ontario, Canada. He Was Martyred During The World War I In The Land Of Canada. Bukkan Singh Was Originally From Mahilpur, Punjab.
Pte. Buckam Singh (Real Name Bukkan Singh) Was Born on December 5, 1893 in Mahilpur, Punjab. His Father’s Name Was S. Badhan Singh Bains And His Mother’s Name Was Chandi Kaur. On March 1903, At The Age Of 10 Years, Buckam Singh Was Married To Pritam Kaur of Jamsher Village In Jalandhar District of Punjab. At That Time, It Was Common in Sikh Families To Arrange The Marriage of Their Children At a Young Age. Although Married at a Young Age, The Couple Would Typically Not Be Allowed to See Each Other Or live Together Until They Had Reached The Adulthood When a Ceremony Called “Muklawa” Would Be performed to formally Consummate The Marriage. Pritam Kaur’s Father Was Bhagwan Singh Gill And Her Grandfather’s Name Was Nihal Singh Gill.
Buckam Singh Came to British Columbia in 1907 When He Was Only 14 Years Old. In Those Days, Sikhs Already Living in Canada Could Not Bring Their Families Due to Harsh Immigration Laws; Hence His Wife Pritam Kaur Couldn’t Join Him in Canada. After Mining in British Columbia For Few Years, he Moved to Toronto Around Year 1912-1913.
In The Spring of Year 1915, he Enrolled Himself With an Ontario Battalion of The Canadian Expeditionary Force. He Was One Of The First Sikh Canadian World War-1 Soldiers. He Was Engaged As a Farm Hand For W. H. Moore, of Rosebank Ont., When The Call Came For Active Service. He Went Overseas With a Kingston Battalion. In The Year 1916, In The Battlefields Of Flanders In IEPER (Belgium), He Served With The 20th Canadian INFANTRY Battalion. He Was Wounded Twice In Two Separated Battles. He Was Treated at a Hospital Run By Doctor Lt. Colonel John McCrae, Who Wrote The Immortal Poem ‘In Flanders Fields’. Private Buckam Singh Was Shifted To England For This Treatment Where He Contracted Tuberculosis. Finally, He Was Transferred to Ontario Military Hospital in Kitchener, Where He died on August 27, 1919. His Grave, in Kitchener’s Mount Hope Cemetery, is The Only Known WWI Sikh Canadian Soldier’s Grave in Canada.
It is Depressing That Buckam Singh Never Got a Chance to See His Family Again And Died Forgotten But it Is Exciting That He Is Not Forgotten Any More as his Heroic Story is Now Being Reclaimed And Celebrated By Canadians Sikhs on Remembrance Day. He’s a Real Canadian Sikh hero!
Picture And Article By Kuljit Singh Ji
Pte. Buckam Singh (Real Name Bukkan Singh) Was Born on December 5, 1893 in Mahilpur, Punjab. His Father’s Name Was S. Badhan Singh Bains And His Mother’s Name Was Chandi Kaur. On March 1903, At The Age Of 10 Years, Buckam Singh Was Married To Pritam Kaur of Jamsher Village In Jalandhar District of Punjab. At That Time, It Was Common in Sikh Families To Arrange The Marriage of Their Children At a Young Age. Although Married at a Young Age, The Couple Would Typically Not Be Allowed to See Each Other Or live Together Until They Had Reached The Adulthood When a Ceremony Called “Muklawa” Would Be performed to formally Consummate The Marriage. Pritam Kaur’s Father Was Bhagwan Singh Gill And Her Grandfather’s Name Was Nihal Singh Gill.
Buckam Singh Came to British Columbia in 1907 When He Was Only 14 Years Old. In Those Days, Sikhs Already Living in Canada Could Not Bring Their Families Due to Harsh Immigration Laws; Hence His Wife Pritam Kaur Couldn’t Join Him in Canada. After Mining in British Columbia For Few Years, he Moved to Toronto Around Year 1912-1913.
In The Spring of Year 1915, he Enrolled Himself With an Ontario Battalion of The Canadian Expeditionary Force. He Was One Of The First Sikh Canadian World War-1 Soldiers. He Was Engaged As a Farm Hand For W. H. Moore, of Rosebank Ont., When The Call Came For Active Service. He Went Overseas With a Kingston Battalion. In The Year 1916, In The Battlefields Of Flanders In IEPER (Belgium), He Served With The 20th Canadian INFANTRY Battalion. He Was Wounded Twice In Two Separated Battles. He Was Treated at a Hospital Run By Doctor Lt. Colonel John McCrae, Who Wrote The Immortal Poem ‘In Flanders Fields’. Private Buckam Singh Was Shifted To England For This Treatment Where He Contracted Tuberculosis. Finally, He Was Transferred to Ontario Military Hospital in Kitchener, Where He died on August 27, 1919. His Grave, in Kitchener’s Mount Hope Cemetery, is The Only Known WWI Sikh Canadian Soldier’s Grave in Canada.
It is Depressing That Buckam Singh Never Got a Chance to See His Family Again And Died Forgotten But it Is Exciting That He Is Not Forgotten Any More as his Heroic Story is Now Being Reclaimed And Celebrated By Canadians Sikhs on Remembrance Day. He’s a Real Canadian Sikh hero!
Picture And Article By Kuljit Singh Ji
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