Soldiers’ graves in war cemetery in Iraq repaired

Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) of staff working on the maintenance on one of the organisation's 23,000 memorial and cemetery sites around the world. CWGC/PA Wire.

The cemetery in Iraq where 29 soldiers of the 1st Bn King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) are buried has had a massive overhaul by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Habbaniya War Cemetery, 60 miles west of Baghdad, honours 173 Second World War casualties and 117 who died in conflicts in the late 1940s to 1950s.

Since 1990, it has been unsafe for staff at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) to manage the site due to war and political instability.

The graves gradually deteriorated over time due to the high salt content in the Iraqi ground.

Photo issued by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) of shell fragments found , as part of the maintenance of the organisation's 23,000 memorial and cemetery sites around the world. CWGC/PA Wire
. — Photo issued by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) of shell fragments found , as part of the maintenance of the organisation's 23,000 memorial and cemetery sites around the world. CWGC/PA Wire .

Habbaniya War Cemetery sits inside what is now an Iraqi air base, making it a more secure location to begin repairs.

Following an improvement in the security situation, stonemasons from Beaurains, France, began producing nearly 300 white Portland stone headstones in December last year to transport to Iraq.

Local contractors started work on the ground in March, with the stones now installed and the cemetery restoration on the cusp of completion.

The 1st Bn King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) was a regular Army unit which was in India when the Second World War broke out in 1939.

Alexandra Barracks, Caton Road, Lancaster.

In 1941 350 men from the regiment were airlifted into Iraq to defend the RAF base at Habbaniya - the first British battalion ever to be flown into battle - and helped defeat the Iraqi Army forces who had surrounded it.

Eighteen soldiers from the battalion were killed on the same day during fighting for Fallujah on May 22 1941.

A total of 29 men were lost from the 1st Bn King’s Own Royal Regiment whose garrison headquarters were at Lancaster.

This little-known but vital victory in the Second World War was commemorated in Lancaster.

CAMP HABBANIYAH, IRAQ - JANUARY 30: Grave markers still stand in a British cemetery January 29, 2006 on the grounds of the now American-occupied Camp Habbaniyah, Iraq. "Habbaniya" was a British-built airbase, created during the British occupation of Iraq in the 1920s and kept for strategic reasons even after Iraq became a sovereign country in 1930. When Iraq staged a coup and declared an alliance with Germany in April 1941, Britain and Iraq (with German help) fought a two-month war for control of Habbaniya, which Britain won. British forces finally pulled out in the 1950s, but the battered and neglected churches, pools, and theaters that remain are reminders of Great Britain's long and stormy experience in militarily occupying Iraq. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Veterans from the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment marched across the city in a show of remembrance for those who lost their lives in one of Britain’s first major victories of the conflict.