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Early life
Thind was born on October 3, 1892, in the village of Taragarh Talawa of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab in India,[3] listed as number 68 in this record. He belonged to the Thind clan of Kamboj.[4][5] As he grew into adulthood, Thind began his collegiate studies at Khalsa College, Amritsar where he began to foster his academic interests. He then travelled to the Philippines where he worked orally translating languages for a brief period of time.

Arrival in the United States
Bhagat Singh Thind arrived in the United States in 1913 to pursue higher education at an American university. On July 22, 1918, he was recruited by the United States Army to fight in World War I, becoming the first recruited soldier to bear a turban and among the first to be of East-Indian ancestry among its ranks. On November 8, 1918, he was promoted to the rank of Acting Sergeant. He received an honorable discharge on December 16, 1918, with his character designated as "excellent".[6][7]

Thind originally arrived in Seattle upon his move to the United States in 1913. He arrived on the Minnesota which was a boat that originated from the Philippines' capital Manila, and his brother Jagat Singh Thind unfortunately perished on the journey. Singh partook on this journey in a migration of around 7000 other mostly Punjabi Sikh Indian men, of which many fled their homeland to escape prosecution by the British who still colonized India. After his arrival, he moved to Oregon where he worked in Lumber Mills alongside a diverse community from European, Asian and other descents. Due to this history, Bhagat Singh Thind joined the Ghadar Movement of which many of its earliest members were under watch by British spies in the United States, including Thind. Thind did not take part in the movement's attempt to rebel against the British rule in India, but remained a member of the movement and its messages throughout his life.

U.S. citizenship conferred many rights and privileges, but only "free white men" and "persons of African nativity or persons of African descent" could be naturalized.[8] In the United States at this time, many anthropologists used the term Caucasian as a synonym for white. Indians were also categorized as Caucasians by various anthropologists. Thus, several Indians were granted United States citizenship in different U.S. states. Thind also applied for citizenship from the State of Washington in July 1918.[citation needed]