After my last post about the Indian Regiment that helped squash the first war of Indian Independence, let us talk about another one. The Punjab Regiment has been doing it for much more the 150 year of the Sikh Regiment. In fact the India Post released a stamp commemorating the 300 years of the establishment of the Punjab Regiment. This regiment has the dubious honour of receiving battle honours for crushing the Indian war of independence at Lucknow.
But if the India Post could find it in their heart to forgive the regiment, then who are we to harbour any ill feelings. The Punjab regiment is naturally one of the oldest regiment in the Indian Army. One of the interesting things about the Punjab regiment is that it was one of the first regiments to volunteer for service abroad over sea & land. As a result not only is their motto, "By land & sea", but also its crest also has a ship built in it. This is probably one of the only infantry regiments with a ship on it.
The 15 Punjab was raised on Baishaki Day of 1705 by Baba Alla Singh, the founder of patiala state. Apart from being the oldest infantry in the Indian army, they are also the second most decorated. Of course if you consider that they are the oldest, that might not work out to a very good average rate of decorations per year! But then lives can' be calculated in averages I guess.
Source & further reading : Global Security ,
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