{"id":145599,"date":"2018-06-24T02:10:31","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T02:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/smethwick-sikh-soldier-statue-striking-tribute\/"},"modified":"2018-06-24T02:10:31","modified_gmt":"2018-06-24T02:10:31","slug":"smethwick-sikh-soldier-statue-striking-tribute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/smethwick-sikh-soldier-statue-striking-tribute\/","title":{"rendered":"Smethwick Sikh soldier statue &#8216;striking tribute&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>                                  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The head of the statue including turban\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/119C4\/production\/_102123127_65d171c1-9c72-49f4-a464-fada1a0e0890.jpg\"\/>Image copyright                  Sandwell Council<figcaption>Image caption                                      The statue will sit between High Street and Tollhouse Way in Smethwick                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">A 10ft bronze statue of a World War One Sikh soldier is to be installed in a high street to commemorate 100 years since the end of the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>The Lions of the Great War monument, which will be installed later this year in Smethwick, West Midlands, will honour the South Asian service personnel who fought for Britain.<\/p>\n<p>Sandwell Council called it a &quot;striking tribute&quot; to the community.<\/p>\n<p>Sculptor Luke Perry said he is &quot;incredibly proud&quot; of the work. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Midlands Live: Man dies after street attack; Road uncovered during tram extension &#039;could be Roman&#039;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>President of the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Smethwick, which is covering the cost of the statue, Jatinder Singh said: &quot;These men volunteered to serve and fought to defend the freedoms we enjoy today. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;The memorial will ensure that this part is never forgotten.&quot;<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Sandwell Council<figcaption>Image caption                                      Sculptor Luke Perry said the importance of the monument &quot;both locally and nationally is huge&quot;                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The statue, depicting a Sikh serviceman carrying a rifle, will stand on a 6ft granite plinth with inscriptions that name the regiments in which South Asian soldiers served.<\/p>\n<p>Sculptor Luke Perry said: &quot;The importance of this monument both locally and nationally is huge. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;I am incredibly proud to be working on a sculpture that is, at its heart, a statement of gratitude.&quot;<\/p>\n<h2>You may also like:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Bird gets jammed in nut dispenser<\/li>\n<li>&#039;Try before you buy&#039; sex doll firm fined<\/li>\n<li>Could this be England&#039;s biggest fan?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The statue will sit between High Street and Tollhouse Way in a newly created paved public space including seating and lighting.<\/p>\n<p>Sandwell Council leader Steve Eling, said: &quot;I am very proud that Smethwick is paying such a striking tribute to the very important role played by South Asian service personnel during times of conflict.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The council said the statue will be installed in time for Armistice Day in November.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Sandwell Council<figcaption>Image caption                                      Preet Kaur Gill MP said the solider statue will recognise &quot;an integral part of Sandwell&#039;s rich history&quot;                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An adjoining green space, which hosts a memorial to inventor and steam power pioneer James Watt, is also set to be refurbished as part of the plans.<\/p>\n<p>Preet Kaur Gill MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs, said the statue will recognise an &quot;integral part of Sandwell&#039;s rich history&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, a national memorial to Sikh soldiers who fought during World War One was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright Sandwell CouncilImage caption The statue will sit between High Street and Tollhouse Way in Smethwick A 10ft bronze statue of a World War One Sikh soldier is to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}