I recently had a chance to visit the "lost" British War Memorial south-east of Basra. In a somewhat bizarre act, Saddam moved it from Basra in 1997 and rebuilt it brick by brick in the middle of the desert.
It commemorates over 40,000 British & Indian troops that died in Mesopotamia around Basra in World War 1. One of the inscriptions that caught my eye was "Jemadar Khandikar and 1,277 other Indian soldiers" There are several similar inscription on the walls.
There are no monuments for our war that I'm aware of. Which is sad.
"The soldiers graves are greatest preachers of peace" - Written in a cemetery of German war dead in Kiev
Its great that you were able to find time to visit this memorial. It certainly must have been a fantastic site to see.
ReplyDeleteI'm stunned that there are no memorials for the South African soldiers' sacrifices to the Border War.
I notice that in the top left corner there is a memorial to the 45th Rattray Sikhs. Is there any chance of a higher resolution photo?
ReplyDeleteDavid Rattray