NSW: Son of British General remembers Baghdad at dawn service

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NSW: Son of British General remembers Baghdad at dawn service

SYDNEY, April 25 AAP - Standing in the pre-dawn darkness in Sydney, James Hargreavesremembered a childhood spent in the once tranquil capital of Iraq as the son of a Britishgeneral.

Mr Hargreaves, who now lives in Sydney's Double Bay, attended today's Anzac Day dawnservice in Martin Place proudly wearing his father's many service medals.

Having spent seven years as a child in the now war-torn Baghdad in the 1950s, Mr Hargreavessaid he had wonderful memories of the city as a warm and beautiful place to grow up.

To see it now, decimated by bombing and looting, had been heartbreaking for him, he said.

"I was brought up in Baghdad and it is very sad to see the places I remember beingbombed," Mr Hargreaves said before the dawn service.

During his time in the capital, Iraq was controlled by the Hashimite monarchy, underKing Faisal II, and the nation's people benefited from the proceeds of Iraq's rich oilfields.

Mr Hargreaves said his father, who was also a doctor, often visited the King to treat his asthma.

The Hargreaves family left Iraq for England in 1958, just before the monarchy was overthrownand the entire royal family, including King Faisal II, executed.

Despite his father serving in the British forces, Mr Hargreaves said he regularly attendedAnzac commemorations, which always reminded him of his father and his childhood.

"Whenever I am in Sydney I try to get here," he said.

AAP swe/hn/cjh/br

KEYWORD: ANZAC NSW BAGHDAD