A lost legacy revealing the tales of Muslim war heroes from Huddersfield has been uncovered by youngsters.
Young members of the Huddersfield Pakistani Community Alliance (HPCA) have pieced together stories that showed their own relatives played a huge part in Britain’s two world wars.
Together with a British Army historian, the group of 12 delved into the archives to research the part Muslim soldiers played in the 20th century’s biggest conflicts.
And they were amazed when they dug up fascinating tales of bravery and service in their own families.
One such example was the story of Springwood man Manga Khan.
Family members looked through his old suitcases and found a host of military medals and documents.
On closer inspection they found their late relative had served on the frontline for the British Empire Army and was caught and imprisoned by the Japanese.
History checks also found that in 1938 he was injured in Burma while serving for the 13th Frontier Force.
A Japanese bomb exploded near his position, knocking him unconscious and wounding him.
His comrades feared he was dead and dragged him to the field hospital covered in blood.
But he recovered, except for a huge hole in his ear, only to be captured later in the war in Singapore and locked up in one of the Japanese’s notorious prisoner of war (POW) camps.
After surviving the hardship until the end of the six-year conflict he was released and given a wad of “coloured paper”.
Unsure of what it was he gave it away, only to later discover it was compensation in the form of Japanese cash.
The fascinating tale is one of many uncovered during the group’s year long project that is now being exhibited at the Tolson Museum.
To celebrate the launch of the project those involved came together to present their work to guests and unveil the display.
HPCA youth worker Mumtaz Ali said: “We’ve always wanted to do a project that would have relevance to our young people.
“They were seeing a lot of negative media about terrorism and Islam – there’s never any positive stories for the public about Islam.
“We realised that for some of the young people in the group their great-grandparents were in the British Army and that’s how they had got to this country.
“We thought it was interesting so we applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund and got a bit of money for a year-long project.
“Through the year they carried out research on their own families and went into the community to get some stories.”
Mumtaz said several members of the group had discovered original military items in family homes dating back to 1944.
“They had their artefacts stored away in their old suitcases,” he said. “A soldier never loses anything – once a soldier always a soldier!
“It’s amazing that they kept everything. When they brought it out some of the families didn’t even know it existed.
“They had never realised what it was. Through this project they found out what each bit was and built up the story.
“They had seen the medals but didn’t realise their names were on them and that it said FF (Frontier Force), until the army historian explained what it all meant.
“A lot of information came alive.”
Mumtaz said he feared the Muslim contribution to the wars had been airbrushed out of history.
“I think so,” he said. “I think this is the kind of information that needs to be shared a bit more in schools.
“Hopefully schools will come to this exhibition and use it as part of their history class.”
Youth worker Rabia Azhar, who led the young people on a research trip to the Imperial War Museum, said: “It’s been far from easy, that’s the reason why it’s called the Lost Legacy.
“You must have heard the phrase a needle in a haystack. Well, it was a lot harder than that.
“It was like a drop of squash in the ocean – the Muslim groups were so diluted.
“It was a big struggle finding all the information but we finally got there and we got everything we required to put on this exhibition.”
Manga Khan’s great-granddaughter, Sarah Ali, 20, said she had loved being involved in the project.
She said Manga had moved to Huddersfield in the 1960s and eventually bought a house on Cecil Street in Springwood.
“We had quite a lot of documents at home and then we researched where the medals were,” she said.
“We managed to get hold of them and look up the history behind each one.
“We found out about my great-grandfather’s regiment and how he was also on the front line.
“It was really interesting for us to see, it’s great for us to know about his legacy and we can take pride in those documents and medals.”
She added: “Hopefully this exhibition will help change attitudes drastically.
“Non-Muslims and Muslims can see that Muslims played a big part in the army.
“They will feel more British in a way, and see that we have played a big part in the community.”
Major Chris Chapman, of Four Brigade at Catterick who helped with the project, said: “Only two of Manga Khan’s medals remained with the family but the paperwork chain of what he should have had existed so we were able to get the missing ones made which is why the family have a correct set.”
Major Chapman admitted not enough had been done to pay tribute to the Muslim fighters for Britain.
“The Muslim contribution to the war isn’t well known,” he said.
“The multi-national, multi-cultural nature of the British Empire army in the first and second world wars is what helped us.
“Without that we probably wouldn’t have won. I don’t think a lot of people realise that.”
Another Muslim war veteran who settled in Huddersfield was Nawab Khan (no relation), whose wife and son still live in town.
Nawab ran away to the join the British Indian Army aged 16, telling the recruiters he was 21.
He went on to have an illustrious career in the Engineering Corps before eventually settling in Huddersfield where is wife and son still live today.
Dalton councillor Musarrat Khan whose ward hosts the Tolson Museum said: “When I was a youngster we weren’t aware of these facts.
“I can only imagine the positive impact it would have on all young people of all backgrounds to know that shared history which facilitated the freedoms we take for granted.”
The 12 young people who worked on the Lost Legacy project are Irram Naseem, Azeem Mohammed, Zeeshan Javed, Hana Ali, Aqsa Khan, Sarah Ali, Hasnain Bokhari, Sumah Ali, Aysha Saeed, Taiba Ali, Umar Khan and Safeena Bokhari.
The HPCA team are Mumtaz Ali, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Jessica Tshole and Rashad Bokhari.
