My grandmother seldom spoke about her brother. It was too painful.



Over the years we put together bits and pieces. He had just become a doctor in India and enlisted with the British forces during the Second World War. He was stationed in Burma.



We think he was killed during a bombing near the Chindwin River. No one knows for sure because they never found his body. He was 26.



Like many, he volunteered to go to war. At the height of the Second World War, it’s estimated that India supported the British war effort with 2.5 million soldiers around the world. All of them recruits.



This story is shared on Remembrance Day because there are thousands of immigrants and children of immigrants who have come to Canada with similar stories of sacrifice and loss — despite what Don Cherry’s recent comments might have you think.



Many immigrants — like me — are very grateful to be Canadian, to live here and contribute. My...