6 Sqn RAF, British Cemeteries in Iraq & WW1
Remembrance Day 2020 at Ma'Asker Al Raschid Cemetery
On the 11th November 2020, for the first time in decades, 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 the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery. Shown below is a photograph that Brigadier McRae 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.
Remembrance Day 2021 at Ma'Asker Al Raschid Cemetery
A Remembrance Day service as well as a re-dedication ceremony was held at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid cemetery (originally named the Hinaidi RAF Cemetery) on-site at the on the 11th November 2021, with wreaths laid by Air Marshall Martin Sampson CDE DSO (the DSAME) and Brigadier Adam McRae MBE (British Defence Attache to Iraq) on behalf of No 1 Squadron and No 6 Squadron respectively. Wreaths for the six other Royal Air Force squadrons with men buried at Hinaidi were later laid at the Remembrance Service carried out at the British Embassy.
Remembrance Day 2022 at Ma'Asker Al Raschid Cemetery
Wreaths were laid at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery on the 11th November 2021by Brigadier Ed Sandry MBE (British Defence Attache to Iraq) on behalf of the British Embassy in Baghdad as well as one for several descendants or men buried in the cemetery (three of whom offered to pay for the making and erection of new headstones for their fallen ancestor).
