In October 2011 Western Desert Battlefield Tours were proud to escort Veterans of the Desert Rats Association to El Alamein. On 23 rd October the veterans laid a wreath at the El Alamein War Cemetery in remembrance of their Fallen comrades. The Duchess of Cornwall who is the Patron of the Desert Rats also sent a wreath to Honour the Desert Rats, a wreath which the Veterans gladly laid on the Duchess of Cornwall’s behalf.

Having lead battlefield tours to Egypt and Tunisia in January, February and March of 2011, we would like to assure everyone that Egypt and Tunisia are safe for Battlefield Tours again. We were made most welcome by people in both countries.

In the last week of May 2008 I discovered a large number of forgotton war graves just east of Tobruk. The original cemetery stems from the 1930's and contained Italian soldiers killed in clashes with the famous "Lion of the Desert" Omar el Mukhtar. From a distance the cemetery which is surrounded by a wall appears to be an old desert fort, and so it must have appeared this way to British and Commonwealth troops when they arrived in the area in early 1941. Believing that it was an enemy position the Allies shelled the so-called fort. However, from its location and the amount of destruction it could well have been British warships that did the damage.

You can imagine the damage caused by shelling a cemetery, grave stones and human remains would be everywhere and so it is today. At some point the Italians remains were re-interred outside the cemetery walls encased in concrete. Next to these are a large number of what we call "real battlefield graves" that is shallow graves covered in stones forming a long cairn so often seen in old photographs. These are obviously casualties stemming from the fighting in 1941 and 42. My years of experience in the desert have taught me not to be too rash about these finds as often a sand filled foxhole can also resemble a grave, and Arab graves, so often found, face east and the dead are never placed in a coffin. The decisive moment came when a human skull was uncovered.

I have informed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Italian Military Attache in London, (as there are known Italian graves there) There are no official Italian war cemeteries in Libya, all the Italian war dead have been repatriated by the order of the Libyans, this again stems from the Italian invasion of Libya in 1911 and the Libyan resistance. It is my belief that the "real battlefield graves" may well contain British or Commonweath dead of the Second World War. They could of course be Italian and buried by the Allies, but the fact remains that there are now far too many graves on the outside of the original cemetery than could have been inside.

On November 4th 2008, the 66th Anniversary of the ending of the battle of El Alamein, the remains of former war hero Sgt Eric Pearson MM formerly of the Royal Artillery, Parachute Regiment and SAS, were scattered along the
Ruwesait Ridge/Deir el Shein position south of El Alamein. Sgt Pearson won the Military Medal at the Deir el Shein while commanding a Troop from 82nd Battery RA, they had been in support of the 18th Indian Brigade during Rommels first attack on the Alamein postion. His last wish was to be with his mates.

On the 4th April 2009 the remains of former Royal Air Force despatch rider Harry Barnes were scattered over the battlefield at Sidi Rezegh airfield (south of Tobruk, Libya) on behalf of his widow Pauline. Harry spent most of the Second World War in North Africa and loved the desert. Harry died in November 2008 and his last wish was that his ashed be scattered over the desert that he loved so much.

Mohamed Omar el Mukhtar, now 88 years old, was an officer serving with the Libyan Arab Force (Freedom Army) attached to British and Commonwealth forces during the 1941/42 Siege of Tobruk. After the war he moved to the old Italian town of Barce, when in 1963 an earthquake destroyed most of the town. Sadly for Mohamed, during the

earthquake he lost his war medals that were awarded to him by the British Goverment for his war service. Western
Desert Battlefield Tours was able to obtain replacement medals for Mohamed and were presented to him by Steve Hamilton on 7th April 2009. As a footnote, Mohamed is the only son of Omar el Mukhtar the legendary "Lion of
the Desert" who fought the Italians for over twenty years before being captured and executed in 1931.