iain mchenry Posted 14 April , 2003 Share Posted 14 April , 2003 I have just been on the BBC web site and been looking at the war news. Apparently today a British officer, Lt Rob Williams, 10 Tpt Regt RLC, found his great grandfathers grave in the ruins of Basra's War Cemetary. By the sounds of the report the war cemetary had been completley trashed, with headstones pushed over and smashed. His great grandfather was L/Cpl Charles Williams (201740), Brecknock Bn, South Wales Borderers, Died of dysentery, Basra, 1916. I'm not too good with computers and don't know how to set up a link from this thread to the BBC site. If you wish to view the report go to the BBC News site, click on "war in depth" and scroll down the page where you will find the title "Soldier finds Basra Families Grave". If Basra War Cemetary has bee trashed like the BBC reports I suppose we are resigned to the fact that similar War Cemetaries/Monuments have been also. What hacks me off even more is that it appears that some of the graves have been desecrated. Iain McHenry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 14 April , 2003 Share Posted 14 April , 2003 CWGC report today that they have no new information on the state of their sites in Iraq but say that they have already begun planning a return to the area to commence remedial action. It seems that this situation will therefore be temporary and will be rectified in due course. CWGC always take a long term view of this type of problem as they have encountered it before elsewhere in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 14 April , 2003 Share Posted 14 April , 2003 I read recently that before the present conflict started that the CWGC have a warehouse of new headstones already in Iraq ready to start a refurbishment of cemeteries and memorials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 14 April , 2003 Share Posted 14 April , 2003 Hello, I'm also interested in the state of the German war graves there. I asked the German counterpart of the CWGC if they have any information on the state of these... Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 14 April , 2003 Share Posted 14 April , 2003 CWGC do indeed have thousands of new headstones 'in country' as they had negotiated with Iraq and the UN (to break sanctions by exporting them to Iraq!) so that a renovation programme could begin. Obviously, the latest fracas has held up this plan and probably worsened the damage but maybe having the stones to hand (if they survived in their warehouse somewhere) will help speed up progress now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Evans Posted 15 April , 2003 Share Posted 15 April , 2003 My local newspaper ran this story last night. Athough the cemetary is in such a sorry state, apparently the visitors book is still in existence and of the 30 or so people to have signed in the last 13 years, most were Polish or Russian. The last Brit. One Albert Williams, signed 22nd June 1990. There may be some good news however; Captain Jodie Smith, of 10 Transport Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps, is reported as saying “I’m hopeful that we can take this on as a regimental project to get the cemetery back to something like its former state.” She wrote in the visitors book: “Hopefully one day we can work together in peace to make it a place to be proud of again.” Amen to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 15 April , 2003 Share Posted 15 April , 2003 There was an article in this morning's Metro about it. Seems there has been quite a lot of damage broken headstones plus some human remains visible on the surface but no one has confirmed whether this was caused through dleiberate vandalism or stray ordnance in the current conflict. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 15 April , 2003 Share Posted 15 April , 2003 The BBC report on Basra War Cemetery can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2946575.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 16 April , 2003 Share Posted 16 April , 2003 Just this second seen this on BBC1 news - cemetery in a sad state, but better than the war cemetery in Beruit, which was completely renovated by CWGC, so there is hope here, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 16 April , 2003 Share Posted 16 April , 2003 Just this second seen this on BBC1 news - cemetery in a sad state Sad state? That's an understatement. I was shocked at the amount of devestation in the cemetery. I mean, I knew it was bad but from what I saw there wasn't a headstone in one piece let alone standing. I echo Paul's sentiments and I hope the CWGC can get in there soon to 'rescue' the cemetery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annette Burgoyne Posted 16 April , 2003 Share Posted 16 April , 2003 I saw it on the News, it's a bit of a shock to see a CWGC Cemetery in such a sad state, more used to seeing the well attended ones in France/Belgium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Thompson Posted 17 April , 2003 Share Posted 17 April , 2003 Does anyone know whether it is intended for the replacement headstones for those damaged in Iraq to bear a religious emblem? I understand that in the past damaged headstones abroad (particularly in Iraq) that have borne the Star of David have been replaced with a headstone with no religious emblem. Will this apply to Christian crosses? Probably a bit too early to say at this stage given the magnitude of the task ahead for the CWGC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 17 April , 2003 Share Posted 17 April , 2003 I believe the replacement headstones which are already in Iraq have the standard crosses. I don't know about any Jewish examples. Time will tell. The walls in cemeteries in non-Christian countries are sometimes higher and the Cross of Sacrifice is occasionally modified to take account of local sensibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 20 April , 2003 Share Posted 20 April , 2003 I know from my own service in the Gulf some thirty years ago now, that Christian symbols were still used on CWGC headstones. My own experience is that Muslim nations are tolerant of other peoples religions provided you respect theirs. Terry Reeves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andigger Posted 14 July , 2004 Share Posted 14 July , 2004 This is similar to another post out there, so I thought I'd bring it up for comparisons and details. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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