The Parish Magazine April 2023

the top and into a large tented area.
This was home while training.
In my free time I wandered
around the mountain and villages
meeting lots of locals from Kurds to
Arabs to the somewhat mystical (and
currently brutalised) Yazidis.
Then it was back to Habbaniya
and the routine of a British base with
fighter and transport squadrons,
plus, of course, the Levy base.
RAF Habbaniya had a hospital
and also a magnificent theatre/
cinema.
I joined an amateur theatrical
group and we performed regularly.
In fact, we took our plays to
Baghdad where I performed in three
plays on a stage at the Alwiyah Club,
one of the best elite social clubs of
Baghdad that opened in 1921 and was
always crowded.
The three plays were: Rookery
Nook, The man who came to dinner and
Harvey.
After one post performance
reception I was asked to take home
a local young Christian girl, which I
was please to do.
Walking back alone past Baghdad
houses guarded by squawking geese,
I never felt unsafe. I doubt I would
nowadays in Baghdad.
Poor Iraq, first a bloody
revolution, then a war with Iran,
then two more wars, leaving a
somewhat unsafe country with
frictions between Shia and Sunni
Muslims and a difficult Kurdish
minority. The million Christians in
my time have dwindled to less than
250,000, with scarcely any evidence
of the Assyrian Christians.
Meanwhile I was given other nonmilitary
duties. Habbaniya had a race
course and of course, horse races. The
local Arabs would join our eventers,
but not me, a non-rider I was put in
charge of the Tote!
The Levies were keen on their
horses and often went hunting in
the desert for jackals. The hunt was
formalised as the Exodus Hunt but
being a non-rider, I ended up as the
hunt treasurer.
The Parish Magazine - April 2023 23
hen British Forces helped to protect Iraq
sonal album. Where appropriate Colin is indicated by a circle.
nrise of Sonning 2020; centre: Iraq map, Rose Joy Villote,
e.com.
nment public domain; right: Colin Pierce astride a mule.
s country team, winner of the county championships 1955
ON STAGE
TREASURER
But I could run and I led the
Levies to win the Iraq cross country
championships with a team mostly
made up of Kurds.
The mixture of religions in the
Levies meant we probably got more
than our fair share of holidays!
KEEN TO LEAVE
Politically, the UK government
was keen for us to leave Iraq. The
Middle East Treaty Organization,
also known as the Baghdad Pact and
subsequently known as CENTRO, the
Central Treaty Organization, was a
military alliance of the Cold War. It
was formed in 24 February 1955 by
Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and the
United Kingdom. The alliance was
dissolved on 16 March 1979.
GOODBYE AND HELLO
The Iraq army moved in and took
over traditional Levy defence roles.
The British government also
wanted all commitments reduced,
but were conscious of the need to
resettle the Levy soldiers. Houses
were planned in Baghdad and the
search for jobs began.
Many Arab Levies joined the Iraq
army or police forces, but most of the
Kurds went back to the north.
My last Levy job was to go up
to Kurdistan to settle with former
Levies any commitments the British
government had, such as pensions,
most of which were commuted.
To do this, again I would get the
night train to Mosul where I stayed
in a terrible hotel. I would then hire a
taxi for two or three days and set off
past Nineveh into Kurdistan, where
fortunately in the north there was a
much better hotel.
After Mosul it was Dohuk and
then several villages up to Amadia
and dear old Bebaidi. I did that trip
twice.
Thus on 5 November 1955 my time
in Iraq ended and I was posted to
Cyprus — it was goodbye Saddam
Hussein and hello EOKA, or union
with Greece — independence
was already on offer. The Turks
and Turkey were not happy about
that and my Cyprus tour covered
the period leading to the Turkish
invasion, but that is another story!