Grave Of Ancestor From 1916 Iraq Campaign Found Wrecked 
 
 

THE great-grandson of a World War I Welsh soldier has found his ancestor's grave in Iraq has been wrecked. 

Eighty-seven years after Lance Corporal Charles Williams, from Abergavenny, contracted dysentery and died after drinking local water in Basra, Lieutenant Rob Williams has found his final resting place is nothing more than a cracked dustbowl. L/Cpl Williams had been left with little choice but to drink dirty water while fighting under the Basra sun. Within days the 33-year-old was struck down by dysentery. He died on November 7, 1916, leaving a wife and young son, also named Charles, in Abergavenny, and was buried in Basra War Cemetery. Yesterday, Lieut Williams, arrived to seek out his fore-father's last resting place. 

"I just want to pay my respects and see if I can tidy the grave up a bit. I don't know what to expect," he admitted as the Army Land Rover wound through rubble-strewn streets to deliver the first British visitors for 13 years. 

Stepping through a deserted, bullet-ridden gatehouse, Lieut Williams from Wool in Dorset, serving with 10 Transport Regiment, was armed with a dated but detailed map showing the grave's whereabouts: Plot 4, Row P, No 20. But it was no good as he squinted into the sun. 

"I don't believe it," he said. "There must be more than this." 

Dozens of gravestones lay shattered on the ground with proud regimental badges broken and half-buried. There was nothing else but dust, concrete, weeds and debris. Human bones littered the ground. A 10-foot high wall of remembrance was left standing but all the heavy stone name plates, bearing the names of more than 2,500 soldiers, including five Victoria Cross winners, had been torn down. 

Scanning his map, 26-year-old Lieut Williams strode off towards the far side of the cemetery, desperately hoping to seek out the plot. He stood, shaking his head and scanning the map for minutes before help arrived from an unexpected source. 

Adhallek Adas appeared from behind a thick thorny hedge, frantically waving, shouting and pointing. Beyond lay his house, a ramshackle, loose-brick building surrounded by barbed wire, hordes of children - and the missing stone name plates from the memorial wall, neatly stacked in heavy piles. 

"I look after stones," the 40-year-old said in broken English, smiling and introducing his wife, Esme, and four sons from the throng. The children were put to work pulling the undergrowth back to reveal names and regiments from a lifetime away.

The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, the King's Dragoon Guards, King's Shrop-shire Light Infantry, Rifle Brigade, 14th Hussars, 10th DCO Lancers (Hogan's Horse). The list went on and on. 

Lieut Williams quickly got to work, carefully lifting each three-foot high, two-inch thick stone plate to reveal more names and regiments beneath. Almost an hour passed in the baking sun. Suddenly, with just a handful of the stone tablets left, Lieut Williams stopped in his tracks and let out a triumphant yell. 

"That's it. That's him! South Wales Borderers, Brecknock Battalion, Lance Corporal Charles Williams, 201740; that's him, fantastic." 

The plate was badly chipped in one corner, covered in mud and home to many insects. Lieut Williams shook his head with satisfaction and relief and carefully laid the stone upright, while the children helpfully sponged it down to clean years of neglect. 

"It's a rewarding moment, a great feeling," he said. "When I first came through and saw nothing in the cemetery except for a few smashed headstones, I was choked really. "But this has made it all worth while. "It's an emotional and moving experience for me. My grandparents have passed on, but it will be nice to let my father know what's here. "There's an irony in the fact that I'm here helping distribute clean drinking water to the British forces and here my ancestor died from drinking dirty water." 

Adhallek and his wife are not caretakers. They just live next door and have tried to look after the stones. Esme appeared with a tattered visitors' book showing most of the 30 people to pass through in the past 13 years have been Polish or Russian. The last British visitor was Albert Williams of Middlesbrough on June 22, 1990, whose description of the cemetery has stood the test of time, 

"It is a disgrace that the graves are in this condition." Lieut Williams added, "What I'd like to see is the cemetery restored to something like its former state."