The life of a 2nd Lieutenant

The planes whizzed by his head as he boarded the fighter planes in Italy. The scenery was vastly different from what is currently in Italy. My Great- Grandfather  fought for England in WWII right from the beginning. He was a successful ended up becoming the 2nd lieutenant in the Indian army.  He was a regal man who lived a simple life after the war, he had 3 children and took on the roll as a responsible husband and husband.

ground troops in Italy during WWII

My great-grandfather, Gian Chand Dubey  was born on March 23,1909 in India. He was born in Jammu, India and had 11 brothers and 2 sisters. He went to boarding school in Dehradun which is located in the hills. Trains were the mode of transportation that wound up the mountain. Motion sickness was common but once you arrived, you were expected to stay there until your winter break. After high school he attended university in England. He went to Europe in the late 1920s, and WWII began in 1939. In the next 10 years he finished university and returned to India once again. He worked for the Indian Army gaining the position of being a 2nd lieutenant. Gian also got married to Romila and they settled down in Mumbai, India. But once the war started he was drafted to fight for England in Italy. Before he left for war he found out his wife had become pregnant with their 2nd child. While he was away he received a telegraph that told him that he had a son.

My grandparents on the left at their wedding.
 My Great-Grandparents on the right

Gian Dubey was one of the first men in India to have a sibling in every ranking in the Indian army. With his 11 other brothers they filled every position the army had to offer. After the war he returned home and continued working in the army but in their offices in Mumbai. He lived a simple life until the day he died on January 23, 2002. He passed away at  93, of old age and a broken heart. His wife Romila had died just 3 months prior, and like a swan he was incomplete without her.  Since he was Hindu he does not have a grave site. In that religion the body is immediately embalmed and then cremated. Gian was cremated and his ashes are then taken to where he wanted them to be placed. His ashes were scattered in the bay outside of his home, and with his wife in the Swiss Alps. While there are no grave markers in the Hindu religion, symbols and the process of scattering the ashes are similar to that of gravestones. My Great-Grandfather had a simple but interesting life. He was a successful army lieutenant, husband, and Great-Grandfather.

Family picture of Dubey's