God is One
Victory is to God
With death a constant fear, soldiers coped in various ways, and belief in premonition and spirits widespread. Private Sunta Gougersing of the 24th Battalion (Victoria Rifles), the example of one such man who predicted his own death. Tim Cook of the Canadian War Museum has researched hundreds of Canadian soldiers letters and other archival material, in which tales told of such visions.
Early Life of Sunta Gougersing
Born 1881, son of Bhola Singh, Santa, of Janbal, Phillour Tahsil, Jullundur District. Husband of Musammat Bishn Kaur, of Janbal, India. Three and a half years previous experience with 32 Punjab Rifles.
32nd Regiment Punjab Pioneers, Indian Army
The regiment founded in 1857 as the Punjab Sappers (Pioneers). After a series of names changes, it became the 32nd Punjab Pioneers in 1901. Then the 32nd Sikh Pioneers in 1903.
Private Sunta Gougersing (Goojar Singh) 65400 enlisted at Montreal on 5 January 1915 with the 24th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Victoria Rifles). Stood 5′ 5″ tall, with dark complexion, hair and eyes.
24th Battalion, The Victoria Rifles of Canada
The 24th Battalion organized in October 1914 under the Command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Alexander Gunn. Later mobilized at Montreal, and recruited in Montreal. Embarked from Montreal 11 May 1915 aboard CAMERONIA.
Later disembarked in England on 20 May 1915, with a strength of 42 officers, 1089 other ranks. Arrived in France 15 September 1915 with the 2nd Canadian Division, 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade. Later reinforced by 23rd Canadian Reserve Battalion.
Private Sunta Gougersing arrived in England per SS CAMERONIA on 20 May 1915.
Private Sunta Gougersing Arrives in France
The 24th Battalion with Private Sunta Gougersing (Googar Singh) embarked for France from Folkestone, 15 September 1915. Disembarked at Boulogne-sur-Mer on 16 September 1915. After sailing from Folkestone at approximately 10 o’clock on the night of September 15, 1915, the S.S. QUEEN proceeded directly across the Channel to Boulogne. No incident marked the journey.
Locre
From October 16th to 22nd, the Battalion remained in Locre. Furnishing parties for work in the forward area. Particularly in J10 Trench, where Private George Whiteford killed at 12.30 a.m. on October 20th.
Premonition of Death
Private Sunta Gougersing (Gunga Singh) 65400, who stated in advance that he knew he must die that night, also killed in J10 Trench by a bullet which struck him in the stomach on the night of October 19th. By October 22nd, the first anniversary of the Battalion’s formation, the roll of the unit’s killed in France had reached a total of 12.
Private Sunta Gougersing killed in action, 19 October 1915, and buried in La Laiterie Military Cemetery. Sunta’s estate distributed through the Under-Secretary of State for India.
La Laiterie Military Cemetery
LA LAITERIE MILITARY CEMETERY is located 7 Km south of Ieper town centre on the Kemmelseweg (N331), connecting Ieper to Kemmel.
Sunta’s epitaph reads God is One, Victory is to God.
The cemetery, named from a dairy farm, begun in November 1914. Used until October 1918 by units holding this sector of the front. The different plots, to a great extent, treated as regimental burial grounds. The majority of the graves in Plots II, III and X, for instance, those of the 26th, 25th and 24th Canadian Infantry Battalions, respectively, and all but one of the graves in Plot VIII those of the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers. On 25 April 1918, the cemetery fell into German hands, but retaken at the beginning of September. After the Armistice, graves brought into the cemetery from the battlefields north and north-east of Kemmel.
More
- Home of CEFRG
- Blog
- CEFRG on FaceBook
- CEFRG on YouTube
- Soldiers and Nursing Sisters
- Units (Brigades, Battalions, Companies)
- War Diary of the 18th Battalion (Blog)
- 116th Battalion CEF – The Great War
- Les Soldats du Québec Morts en Service
- Battles of the Great War
- Cases
- Cemeteries
- Memorials
- On This Day
- About CEFRG