First Burials at the Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery (Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery) in December 1921

During the short Battle at Batas in the Erbil region of Kurdistan on the 26th and 27th December 1921, the RAF Iraq Levies were engaged in intensive mountain guerrilla warfare against pro-Turkish forces and rebellious Kurdish factions in the rugged terrain of northern Kurdistan. Whilst crossing a river under heavy fire from the enemy on the 26th December 1921, two British Army officers were shot and killed. Their bodies were quickly recovered and transported to RAF Hinaidi where they were buried, becoming the first burials at the new Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery (name changed to Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery in 1961). Captain John Pellew Carvosso served with the 5th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment and Lieutenant Richard Arthur Burridge served with the 25th Indian Cavalry prior to them both being attached to the newly-restructured RAF Levies. It is unusual that with the cemetery empty at the time of their deaths, they were not buried side by side, with Captain Carvosso buried in Plot 3 Row L Grave 14 whilst Lieutenant Burridge was buried in Plot 3 Row K, Grave 01. These two British Army officers were the first burials at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery.

Only 77 of the original 300 headstones at the Ma'Asker Cemetery have survived the passage of time in various degrees of completeness, but the smallest identifiable fragment of headstone found in the cemetery in 2021 is for Captain Carvosso , identified by his year of birth, him being the only person buried at the cemetery who was born in 1893 and whose headstone had not already been identified (see photo below).

Fragment of headstone for Captain John Carvosso at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery, Baghdad

As a sad postscript, in July 2011 the BBC reported that a brass church cross was found in Great Yarmouth and officers from the Norfolk Constabulary were attempting to trace its original home and next of kin in both Norfolk and Kent. The cross was inscribed "Dedicated to the memory of Capt John Pellew Carvosso, of the 5th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment.' Captain Carvosso was a resident of Kent before his death. I hope that the cross was safely returned to its original location. May they rest in peace.