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In May, the Royal British Legion will remember the 15th anniversary of the end of the War in Iraq and honour the extraordinary service and sacrifice of the British Armed Forces in the Coalition.

We are hosting a daytime commemorative event at 12pm at the National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire, on Friday 22nd May 2026 – the 15th anniversary of the end of Operation TELIC.

The NGVFA will attend to lay a wreath in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the war and those that have passed since Lest We Forget

After Gulf War 1 the USA and its allies maintained a policy of "containment" towards Iraq and were ultimately encouraging a regime change and the removal of Saddam Hussein.

In addition, in 2001 the world had witnessed the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, known to us all as 9/11.

Iraq was requested to disarm itself of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons (weapons of mass destruction - WMD) and was given a final deadline in March 2003 which it failed to comply with.

In order to deal with the two threats of Terrorism and WMD, which politicians considered were linked and were immediate and intolerable threats to world peace, the invasion of Iraq commenced with an air strike on the Iraqi Presidential Palace on 19th March 2003.

This offensive was led by the USA under Operation Iraqi Freedom and backed by the UK under Op Telic. Additional allied forces were also deployed.

Although the conflict was declared over on 1st May 2003, the occupation and guerrilla war continued. 144,700 UK military personnel were deployed and UK forces were finally withdrawn in June 2009. Although some USA military personnel remained after 2009, they were finally withdrawn in 2011.

Saddam Hussein was captured in December 2004 and was later hanged for crimes against humanity.