A WESTBURY stonemasonry firm has constructed the official memorial to UK dead of the Iraq war.
Young Johnson Memorial Masons, based at the West Wiltshire Craft Centre, was commissioned to create the Basra Memorial Wall at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
The memorial was officially unveiled on Thursday 11th March at a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Duke of Gloucester and 500 family members of soldiers killed during the Iraq war.
Young Johnson director Nick Johnson said, “It’s a massive thing for us. It was really good to see all the families there because it’s for the families really. There were a lot of tears but they were all very pleased with it.”
The memorial wall has been transported brick-by-brick from what was the UK forces headquarters in Basra, Iraq, to the arboretum.
Soldiers from the Royal Engineers had constructed the red-brick wall in their own time, attaching brass plaques commemorating British casualties throughout Operation Telic, the name for British operations between 2003-2009.
After British forces withdrew from Iraq the wall was dismantled and returned to Britain. Young Johnson was commissioned to rebuild the wall, encase it in granite to protect it from the elements, and attach 179 brass plaques, for the 178 armed forces personnel and one MoD civilian killed in Iraq.
Nick Johnson said, “After the troops pulled out a lot of families of the dead wanted to know what was going to happen to it. The MoD decided that they were going to bring it back and rebuild it at the arboretum. They got in touch and said, ‘Can you do this?’ and I said yes.
“It took us about four weeks’ work. with another week in the workshop. There was a team of six of us who worked on it.
“It’s very satisfying. You do worry about what if the families don’t like it, or what if it’s wrong, but the families all think it’s brilliant.”
At the unveiling ceremony the leaders of all three main political parties attended, as well as the defence secretary Bob Ainsworth, Sir Jock Stirrup, chief of defence staff, and the commanding officers of the army, navy and air force. There were also representatives from Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, the US, India, Pakistan, Syria and Sri Lanka.
The ceremony commenced with a flypast from four RAF Tornado aircraft.
This is the fourth armed forces memorial that Young Johnson has created.
Nick said, “It started out when we did one for the Royal Green Jackets, and has all stemmed from there. When I started as an apprentice 30 years ago I never thought I’d be doing war memorials. It’s nice work, but Mrs Smith gets the same quality work on her headstone – that’s what we’re about.”
The 150 acres, and 50,000 trees already planted, are part of a new national forest.
“Honourable age does not depend on the length of days, nor is the number of years a true measure of life.”
