Qualla: Basra Memorial https://qualla.com/basra-memorial en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/3/v/basra-memorial-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Basra Memorial https://qualla.com/basra-memorial Basra Memorial: Introduction https://qualla.com/basra-memorial/ Photo credit BMarinca, CC BY-SA 4.0. "And 258 other Indian soldiers." That is how the Basra Memorial records some of its dead -- not by name, but by number, regiment, and an afterthought of arithmetic. Of the 40,682 Commonwealth soldiers commemorated here for dying without known graves during the Mesopotamian Campaign of 1914-1921, only 7,385 British personnel and Indian officers are identified individually. The remaining 33,256 Indian non-commissioned officers and soldiers are reduced to tallies etched beside unit designations. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has acknowledged it knows their names. It has not yet inscribed them.

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/3/v/basra-memorial-wp/tj3v-basra-memorial-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Basra Memorial: Built to Remember, Moved to Forget https://qualla.com/basra-memorial/ Photo credit BMarinca, CC BY-SA 4.0. Architect Edward Prioleau Warren designed the memorial, and it was unveiled on 27 March 1929 by Gilbert Clayton at a site eight kilometers north of Basra, near the Shatt al-Arab River. For decades it stood where Mesopotamia's waters carried the weight of empire and the campaigns ...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/3/v/basra-memorial-wp/tj3v-basra-memorial-built-to-remember-moved-to-forget.mp3 0:06 2 full Basra Memorial: Sixty-Eight Panels in the Desert https://qualla.com/basra-memorial/ Photo credit BMarinca, CC BY-SA 4.0. The memorial consists of 68 stone panels bearing the names of the dead -- or at least the names of some of them. As of recent inspections, approximately 62 panels remain present and readable, though 8 have delaminated from the walls. The Cross of Remembrance has been stolen. Bron...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/3/v/basra-memorial-wp/tj3v-basra-memorial-sixty-eight-panels-in-the-desert.mp3 0:06 3 full Basra Memorial: The Names That Are and Aren't There https://qualla.com/basra-memorial/ Photo credit BMarinca, CC BY-SA 4.0. Five Victoria Cross recipients are listed on the memorial's panels. Lieutenant Commander Charles Henry Cowley and Lieutenant Humphrey Osbaldston Brooke Firman, both killed on the night of 24-25 April 1916 during desperate actions on the River Tigris near Kut al-Amara, share Panel...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/3/v/basra-memorial-wp/tj3v-basra-memorial-the-names-that-are-and-arent-there.mp3 0:06 4 full Basra Memorial: An Unfinished Reckoning https://qualla.com/basra-memorial/ Photo credit BMarinca, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 2016, the BBC reported that CWGC publicity director Colin Kerr acknowledged the disparity: 30,000 Indian soldiers remain unnamed on the Basra Memorial despite the commission possessing records of their identities. Kerr said the commission had launched a project to find ways to...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/3/v/basra-memorial-wp/tj3v-basra-memorial-an-unfinished-reckoning.mp3 0:06 5 full