GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL IRAQ NW PERSIA 24361 STOKES ROYAL IRISH FUSILIERS WW1 ARMY

General Service Medal (1918 – 62), with 2 clasps IRAQ, S.W. PERSIA, impressed named 24361 PTE. J. STOKES. R. IR. FUS. Comes with medal rolls and M.I.C

Private John Stokes served with the 7/8^th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers at some stage between 15/10 1916 when the 7^th and 8^th were amalgamated and 10/2/1918 when the Battalion was disbanded and the men sent to the 1^st and the 9^th Battalion.

The Royal Irish Fusiliers is reduced to two battalions, 30 December, 1919. Stokes may have already been serving with the 1st Battalion at this stage or was posted to it as a result.

Iraq: The nationalist Arabs had limited arms, mostly acquired during the First World War after the defeat of the Turks. They were now using these against the British and so the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers, was nominated to carry out a difficult and thankless internal security task (sound familiar?).

One of the incidents that the Battalion was involved in was when the Battalion set out on 1 September 1920, from Khanikin, north east of Baghdad, for Mirfana which was 20 miles away. They expected trouble at two passes, Fasilah and Qizil. Lying on a high ridge in the Fasilah Pass, the enemy were waiting and opened fire on C Company. The enemy advanced over exposed ground down a forward slope where they were struck by the machine guns and artillery of the supporting column.

The enemy was driven from the pass and the Faughs suffered only two casualties, one of whom, Lieutenant H V Gough, was severely wounded.

Stokes is also entitled to the British War and Victory Medals for his WW1 service. As he was a regular serving post war his records probably still exist and may be held at the M.O.D.