Aurangzeb was just 16 when he left his village of Rajoha in #Punjab in 1939. His brothers were all in the army, so he joined up too. He became a bellows boy, part of a team that made and fitted shoes for mules, an essential trade for #ForceK6. #southasianheritagemonth @CWGC 23/65

Young Aurangzeb went to France, and was evacuated from St Nazaire in June 1940. He sent poems home to his family written in Urdu and Punjabi. He was just 18 when he died of TB - the biggest killer of #ForceK6 sepoys - in March 1942. His grave is in Brecon
@CWGC

In 2018 I met three of his nephews: Mohd Akram, Mohd Yunus & Mohd Rafique and his grand nephew Abdul Mateen, still living in Rajoha. I showed them a photo of his grave. Another relative had tried without success to find his grave when on a visit to Britain in 1982

I found Bellows Boy Aurangzeb’s story sad and moving, and so I included it at the start of chapter 1 of my book, published by @TheHistoryPress. He is one of 65 men of #ForceK6 buried in Europe and South Africa.