Remembrance Day at Hinaidi (Ma' Asker Al Raschid) RAF Cemetery

With the invaluable assistance of the British Embassy in Baghdad, I am pleased to announce that the first phase of the restoration project is about to commence, comprising the erection of a boundary wall and the setting up of a basic maintenance plan. The first step in the process of bringing the cemetery back into the fold was a pivotal and significant event that took place at Hinaidi yesterday (11th November 2020) when the British Embassy’s Defence Attaché in Baghdad, Brigadier Adam McRae, laid a wreath at the foot of the grave of Brigadier-General Sir Gilbert Falkingham Clayton KCMG KBE CB, British High Commissioner to Iraq at the time of his death in 1929. This was probably the first time in more than half a century that Remembrance Day has been commemorated at Hinaidi and hopefully it won’t be the last. Shown below is a photograph that Brigadier McCrae took to mark the occasion. Though the headstone is missing its upper section, it can be seen that some remedial work has already been carried out re the state of the cemetery. I will add photographs in this News section as and when they become available.