Author's Statement & Methodology

I am Ben Soppitt; a UK National. My grandfather, Gunner Joseph Soppitt, served in the Royal Artillery during World War 2 in an Anti Aircraft battalion based in Basra, Iraq. He died of illness on 3 November 1941, aged 32. He is buried in the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery in Basra.

In 2025 I travelled to Iraq to visit his unmarked grave and lay a gravestone; I also held a Remembrance Day service at the cemetery, the first in over 50 years, to honour all those who lost their life in service of their country and who are buried there. The Chaldean Archbishop of Basra attended the service along with a Muslim cleric and members of the local community.

Whilst in Iraq I took the opportunity to visit every site under the auspices of the CWGC.

The CWGC withdrew from the country in 1990 and its staff have visited only once since then, spending a few days in Basra in 2018. This absence has created a substantial gap in understanding and awareness of the country and these sites within the CWGC leadership as well as the wider public. This report attempts to fill this gap and by doing so it is hoped that the CWGC will make good on their mission and obligation to Commonwealth war dead with a full operational return to Iraq; and to complete the Non-Commemoration work needed there through both research and action.

Every effort has been made to ensure the data and information in this report is correct however this is the work of a single private individual with limited resources and time so should be treated with appropriate caution and independently verified.

The views expressed in this report are those of the author.

Site visits were conducted between 21 October and 11 November 2025 and covered all eleven CWGC cemeteries and memorials in Iraq along with relevant Ottoman, German, and civilian burial grounds.

Research combined a variety of different approaches to establish accuracy, understand the context and historical circumstances. It included:

• Direct on-site inspections of each cemetery and memorial.
• Photographic and 360-degree video documentation of all accessible areas.
• Interviews with local guardians, contractors, residents, and diplomatic officials.
• Review of CWGC archives, historical site plans, and published maps.
• Cross-referencing CWGC public statements with observable on-the-ground conditions.
• Identification of discrepancies between archival assumptions and current realities.
• Use of other relevant research such as that undertaken by Steve Johnson into Ma'Asker Al-Rasheed Cemetery.

This methodology ensures that the findings documented in this report reflect both the physical conditions of each site and the author's understanding of the factors shaping CWGC operations in Iraq.