Your Iraq: War cemetery duty

BBC News Online is asking readers to send in their personal experiences of the recent conflict in Iraq and its aftermath.

Of those sent in so far, some have been letters, e-mails or diary entries, while others have taken the form of personal accounts, with readers reflecting on how their lives have been affected by the war.

The second part of the series features David Steele, a geographic sergeant for the British Army's 19 Mechanised Brigade who was based in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

Here he relates in a letter to his family a mission to recover the desecrated gravestones of British soldiers at a World War I cemetery in the city.

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Okay, I'd promised I wouldn't go out. I promised everyone I'd stay in the safety of the palace and be good... But have you any idea how tedious it can get when you can't even walk to the bottom of the street to buy a paper?

War in Iraq: Your experiences

So, when the call went out asking for volunteers for this job, I put my name down faster then I would have signed up for free beer, or perhaps not.

I'm surprised at the number of volunteers for this job. I really expected less than a dozen but, in all, about 50 turn up.

We have a long wait and after half an hour we're starting to grumble about "typical army organisation".

But then somebody steps forward and explains what's going on.

"Ladies and gents, I'm sorry about the delay, but right now the EOD boys [that's the bomb squad - Explosive Ordnance Device] are busy making sure there's no devices hidden under any of the stones.

"Last thing we need is for them to go off in our faces when we get down there."

Centre of attention

We arrived at the site to find it parched and dusty.

It was impossible to even walk without kicking up a dust cloud. The gravestones lay strewn about, close to where a family had made a home from some aluminium sheeting and mud bricks.

Every time I went to a fresh stone, I couldn't help gritting my teeth... perhaps this one could be booby trapped? They never were, of course, but it didn't stop me wondering

I was amazed to see that they hadn't actually used any of the stones to make their walls.

Pretty soon we were the centre of attention and, as we ripped the pallets from the back of the flat bed trucks, about 20 young lads came out to help.

I don't know if you've ever lifted a gravestone, but surprisingly enough, they're not very light. In fact, after just a couple of lifts, I began to wonder whether or not my back would ever straighten again!

Every time I went to a fresh stone, I couldn't help gritting my teeth. Perhaps this one could be booby trapped? They never were, of course. But it didn't stop me wondering.

It soon became clear that the most difficult part of the day was going to be escaping with all my fingers.

Picking a stone up is one thing. You just get a man on every corner and shout "Lift!"

But putting it down again is altogether more tricky... and those stones go down with a very satisfying crack.

'A good deed'

Soon enough, the site was littered with people hopping around in little rain-dance patterns, waving their throbbing fingers and turning the air blue.

Some of the local kids seemed to think this was a great game and spent the next hour learning to copy them.

Within about an hour, we'd finished off that particular part of the graveyard and I actually thought we'd finished altogether.

"That wasn't too bad," I said, as we cracked open a bottle of water, watched shyly by the local kids. "I've got a rosy glow and I've done my good deed for the day."

"Well. That's the first part done," somebody behind me said. "Only another six to go."

Excerpts from the Your Iraq series can be heard in the BBC World Service programme Letters from Iraq, which will be broadcast 25 June at 1732 GMT.

Do you have an experience you would like to share with us? Send your letters, e-mails, diary entries or thoughts using the form below. If you have an existing email that you would prefer to forward to the BBC, send it to [e-mail]

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