But, in the camp, something has happened, Chacha-ji. We all came as separate people, and now we are leaving as something united—all of us, although we may come from different countries. You may say we are fighting a common enemy, and sometimes that makes men falsely united. But it is more than that. There are Germans who are here with me. Now they will go and fight people of their same blood. How can that happen, Chacha-ji? How can something man-made go against something that was given to us by God, our own flesh and blood? And yet to all these men it feels right, that we will all fight together for this country. If you put me with one of those Imperial Valley boys who was my schoolmate, you could not tell the difference. I can talk like they do, eat like they do, laugh at their jokes and they laugh at mine. You have always said they were good people. Now it may be that I will die in their company. It may be that one of them loses his life to save mine or that I lose my life to save his. It is war, and we are fighting together on the same side, and we are American soldiers.

I have done something, Chacha-ji. I hope you do not think badly of me. I have filed to become a citizen. In doing this, I have also cut my hair and shaved my beard. I know you will be furious with me. But, Chacha-ji, to be a U.S. citizen and a Sikh, simultaneously, does not seem possible. I pray that you will forgive me.

All of our people who are in the camp want one thing—to become citizens of the United States and to stop living in the shadows. From the beginning, the government has promised this to the recruits. Why else did President Wilson go with those immigrants in the parade that day to George Washington’s home, showing them off to the entire country? Perhaps it is the government taking advantage of us, but we should take advantage of this chance.

With my army service, I can file for citizenship without a statement of intention and without need of proving that I have lived here for five years. It is true that in this enterprise I have disobeyed you from the start. But I feel that I did not act without reason. After the war is over I want to be part of this society, I want to vote. Is this country not founded on the same principles that we believe as Sikhs? Independence, honor, optimism, justice—do we not believe in those too?