'Euston Road', Basra Air Station, Iraq, 2009

Digital image by Corporal Adrian Harlen, 2009.

This use of a familiar name from home has echoes of World War One (1914-1918) and the signs used by British and Commonwealth troops to differentiate trenches. The practice helps to retain links with the relative normality of home and has the practical benefit of assisting navigation or orientation in complex or nondescript environments.

The British handed all but one of their bases in Basra over to Iraqi control in Spring 2007, and withdrew to the expanded and fortified base at Basra International Airport.

From a collection of photographs relating to Operation BROCKDALE, the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq in 2009.