大象传媒

In July 1939 I was a member of the Middlesex contingent of Rover Scouts who attended the World Rover Scout Moot inScotland. The contingent camping next to us was from Iraq.

I enlisted in the Royal Engineers in October 1939 and then in September 1942 I was transferred from the Chief Engineer GHQ MEF to join the staff of the Chief Engineer PAIFORCE (Persi & Iraq Force), in Baghdad.

About a year later a meeting was arranged for any personnel who would be interested in forming a Rover Scout Crew. The meeting was held and several of us who were already Rover Scouts formed the 1st Baghdad Services Rover Scout Crew. Sometime later we were asked by the British Council if any of us would be willing to form a Scout Troop of Iraqi boys. Three of us agreed and the boys were recruited by the British Council. It was arranged that we would met in the grounds of the British Council two afternoons a week. Our army duties were about five hours in the morning and two/three hours in the evening.

After we had been running the Troop for some while the Commander in Chief arranged that we should be given extra time for the meetings as he considered it was good for public relations. One afternoon we were informed by the Director of the British Council that the Boy King, King Faisal II, together with his cousin would be coming ot the meeting. The Boy King who was about 7 years of age arrived with his cousin and his ADC, an Iraqi Brigadier. Instead of our usual training it was arranged that we would stage minor competition items. For my part I had the game of throwing tennis balls into a bucket. I allowed the Boy King to have a second throw because he did not succeed at the first attempt.

Later in the afternoon tea was provided. The Boy King with a few other boys sat at a table with one of our Rover Scouts. The boys were all talking in Arabic until the ADC told the Boy King that as you have an English person sitting at the table you must talk in English and tell the other boys to do the same. After the tea we assembled to shake hands with the Boy King before he took his leave.

In September 1945 it was realised that we would be returning to England and so the Director of the British Council asked us to meet three Iraqi school teachers who it was hoped would take over from us. By way of introduction I mentioned that I had camped alongside the contingent of Rover Scouts from Iraq at the World Rover Scout Moot in Scotland in 1939. Much to my amazement one of the teachers said he had been at that camp. Some years later the Boy King completed his education at Harrow School before returning to live in Baghdad. Alas, in 1958, following a military coup in Iraq a republic was declared and the King executed.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.