Norwegian Sailor Buried In Iraq 1945

Of the 290 headstones at the Habbaniya War Cemetery, located 50 miles west of Baghdad, 173 graves are for WW2 deaths and 117 for burials that took place either 'between the Wars' or post WW2. In 2024 I discovered that a grave had been overlooked when the full restoration of the cemetery was carried out in 2018/19. During the restoration process, the original (and almost illegible) headstone for a Norwegian sailor buried in Iraq, First Officer Oskar Magnus Kristiansen of the M T Bralanta, was overlooked and since 2019, his grave (Plot 6, Row C, Grave 1) has remained unmarked. The 26th March 2026, will mark the 81st anniversary of Kristiansen's death.

M/T Bralanta - the Norwegian cargo ship in which F/O Kristiansen was fatally injured in an explosion

Oskar Kristiansen is the only Norwegian serviceman to be buried in Iraq.

After I (Steve Buster Johnson) provided the CWGC with photographic proof of this - see images below - a meeting was arranged between James King, the Area Director Africa & Asia CWGC and his counterpart at the Norwegian Department of Cultural Heritage to discuss the matter. The meeting took place at the end of January 2024 at which it was agreed that the CWGC would fabricate a new headstone on behalf of Norwegian War Graves and shipped to Habbaniya the next time the CWGC is scheduled to carry out works in Iraq. Eventually (hopefully in the not too distant future) the new headstone will be erected in its original position, Plot 6 Row C Grave 1 (see below).

The worn original and artists impression of the headstone for First Officer Oskar Kristiansen, Norwegian Navy

Location of missing headstone for F/O Oskar Kristiansen, Norwegian Navy, Habbaniya War Cemetery, Iraq

UPDATE 20th August 2026

Going through the photographic archives for the now defunct RAF Habbaniya Association, I found a clearer photograph of Oskar Kristiansen's headstone, taken when US forces carried out a complete restoration of the then abandoned Habbaniya War Cemetery during 2005 and 2006. I reproduce it here with the kind permission of Dr Chris Morris, the last president of the RAF Habbaniya Association.

Headstone of First Officer Oskar Kristiansen, Norwegian Navy, at the Habbaniya War Cemetery 2006, the only Norwegian serviceman to be buried in Iraq.