Description
Royal Air Force Levies Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, clasp Royal Air Force Levies Iraq, 259 Corporal Gewergis Oshana, Royal Air Force Levies.
Very rare and unusual medal.
Officially engraved: “259 Cpl Gewergis Oshana.”
This unusual medal was only issued for a short period of time, between 1948 and 1955 to members of the local “Iraq Levies” which formed part of the Royal Air Force since 1922.
Only about 309 Medals were ever issued during its short life, with about 7 being forfeited, 18 years of service with at least 12 with flawless service records was required for the issue.
114 of those were to Officers and 188 to Airmen, few have been noted as having survived today, many being melted down.
According to a note with the medal this was allegedly “rescued from Iran in 1979”.
Those employed by the unit were mainly Assyrian and Kurds, whilst his name sounds odd to us, “Gewergis” is the local Assyrian and Chaldean translation of the name “George”. His surname of “Oshana” is an Aramaic derived name commonly seen on Christian communities in Syria, Iraq and the Levant associated with the Assyrians of the region.
The Assyrians of the Middle East were constantly under threat, especially around this period as the newly formed Kingdom of Iraq targeted them in tragic events such as the Simele Massacre of 1933, which only hardened the Assyrians of the Iraq Levies and inspired them to not let the 15,000 Egyptian Soldiers break through Habbaniya in 1940 without first killing every one of them.
The Iraq Levies gained themselves in only a short life-span from 1921-1955 a fearsome reputation. They can be traced to the “Arab Scouts” who first fought in World War 1 before they officially became the “Iraq Levies” in 1922 and were soon after brought under the umbrella of the Royal Air Force. They initially protected the local RAF Bases as a local Militia, but became much more in wartime, during World War 2. They fought in the Battle of Habbaniya during the WW2 Anglo-Iraqi War of 1940-41. Being involved in the lifting of the Siege of Habbaniya. They would also gain a “1st Parachute Company” who were then attached to the Royal Marine Commando and fought far from home in Albania, Italy and Greece. In 1943 they officially became the “Royal Air Force Levies”
