This Remembrance Sunday, Ben Soppitt will be honouring the sacrifice of his grandfather at Basra War Cemetery in Iraq. He'll be among the very few, honouring many.
His small service will be in stark contrast to the large, solemn ceremony at the Cenotaph in London. Nor do the monuments in Iraq bear any resemblance to the carefully maintained war memorials and manicured cemeteries all across Europe.
Ben Soppitt says the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has "catastrophically failed" in its duty to honour the dead in Iraq. He says it "shames the men and women who gave their lives in Iraq".
More than 50,000 soldiers from the UK and Commonwealth nations lost their lives in Iraq in both World Wars. Most were casualties of the Mesopotamian Campaign during World War One, when British and Commonwealth troops fought the Ottoman empire. And most of those killed were Indian nationals.
Ben Soppitt's grandfather, Gunner Joseph Soppitt, is among those buried at Basra War Cemetery. He died in 1941 of dysentery when British forces briefly fought there during World War Two. His grave – like the rest of the nearly 3,000 men buried there – has no official marking. Others buried there include a recipient of the Victoria Cross, George Wheeler, and the grandfather of the actress Charlotte Rampling – Sapper Harris Johnson Rampling.
