Sergeant (retired) Muhammad Hussain Obituary

إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

It is with great sadness that we record the passing on Friday 20 th June of Sergeant (retired) Muhammad Hussain who served during the Second World War with 6 th Duke of Connaught’s Own Lancers (Watson’s Horse) and later, after Partition, with 6 th Lancers in Pakistan. In 2025 he honoured the WWMMT by taking part in our promotional fund-raising film (hyperlink to film) and, despite his advanced years, was able to speak with such clarity of the experiences he had witnessed and participated in during that conflict.

Muhammad Hussain was born in 1925 in the village of Mohra Bhattian, a small village of just 100 houses near Rawalpindi. He was just 16 years old when he ran away from home to join the army – his elder brother, Fazil Hussain, was already serving with 2 nd Punjab Regiment attached to 1 st Indian Anti-Aircraft Regiment in Burma and Muhammad knew that, for that reason, his father would have tried to stop him enlisting.

Muhammad was allocated to the Armoured Corps and, following eighteen months training in India, he joined his new regiment in Milan, Italy, on 19 September 1943. The regiment was in the process of exchanging its British-made Humber Light Reconnaissance armoured cars for American-made Staghounds. These came equipped with both 3 inch and 5 inch Browning machine guns. The problem was that no-one knew how to operate these machine guns so Muhammad, who had completed training on them in India, successfully ran a course for officers in their use. For this, he was given immediate promotion to the rank of Lance Naik, followed shortly afterwards by promotion to Naik and placed in charge of one Staghound. He remained with the Regiment in Italy until the war came to an end in that country on 2nd May 1945. The regiment sailed for India in June.

On Partition the Regiment was allocated to Pakistan as 6 th Lancers and Muhammad continued to serve for a few more years until a dreadful accident in 1958 broke his neck. He was medically discharged from the army and moved to the UK in 1960.

Over the years, and in addition to taking part in our film, Muhammad Hussain had spoken to many school and youth groups about the war effort and for a while served as Chairman of the Ex-Indian Army Servicemen’s Association.

The WWMMT feels privileged to have been associated with what must surely be one of the last

remaining survivors of the old Indian Army in the War.