Sergeant Major Gandhi

Mohandas Gandhi (1869 - 1948), advocate of non-violence and leader of India's struggle for independence from Britain, served twice under British forces and was awarded a British decoration. On the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War in South Africa in 1899, Gandhi was living in Natal. For a mixture of motives, but primarily because of his beliefs that winning civil rights could come only by taking on responsibilities, he raised an Indian Ambulance Corps of more than 1000 men. At the end of the War, he and 37 men were awarded the War Medal. In 1906, he tried to persuade the British authorities to accept Indian recruits to help put down a Zulu uprising. The government, however, would accept them only as stretcher-bearers, commanded by Gandhi as sergeant-major. Gandhi’s pro-British stance continued after he left South Africa. On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, while based in England, he again helped raise a Field Ambulance Corps from amongst Indians studying in the country. Ill health forced his return to India, and there, in 1917, to took part in a recruitment of drive for the Indian Army at the request of the British administration.