257286 Cpl Henry Semmence British Army Royal Engineers from:Gillingham, Kent My father, Henry Semmence, was a sapper in the Royal Engineers in WW2. He was sent to Iraq in 1940 from India and served building anti-tank emplacements, roads, rail etc when an invasion of the Germans was expected to join their troops from the north to North Africa, which never in the end happened. He went up through Iraq from Bagdhad to Mosul and Ninevah, where he discovered ancient baths underground, some of the friezes and remains are now in the British Museum.
I remember him saying that the Kurds were some of the best people he had ever met and they worked well with him. He was lent a camel for transport, that had a baby following. I would love to know more details of his work there, and what the Royal Engineers were doing there.
My parents married in Poona, India, March 1936 my mother travelling out from England and did not know anyone at her wedding. When my father arrived in Bagdhad, he wrote to my mother on hotel paper, "Thank you for the best 5 years of my life" and sent her an engagement ring! This is all I know of his wartime experiences and it would be good to fill in the spaces.
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