Celia Mitchell was attending the Royal British Legion’s service to remember those we lost and who were wounded in Iraq – she recalled her own traumatic experiences of service
A medic told how she was helping to save an Iraqi civilian when he tried to slit her throat. Celia ‘Mitch’ Mitchell, 65, who served in the Royal Navy, attended the commemorations on Friday to mark the 15th anniversary of the end of the Iraq War.
She spoke to The Mirror as she attended a service at the National Memorial Arboretum to mark the 15th anniversary of the end of the Iraq War. The conflict saw 179 British armed forces personnel killed and 6,000 injured.
Celia told The Mirror how she was working in 34 Field Hospital in Shaibah, the first British medical unit to operate ahead of the front line since the Crimean War. She was two miles forward of the front line treating Iraqi citizens and working as missiles flew over her head from in front and behind. It was not until 12 years after returning from Iraq she was diagnosed with PTSD.
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“We were two miles in front of the front line. One time I was nearly slashed across the neck with a blade. I was treating his wounds and changing his dressings.
“You have to allow them to shave so they were given Bic razors but they were pulling them apart. I could see the guy fiddling around and I just moved back in time. I had to defend myself with a steel bedpan, it was a quick reaction. “
She says she still has “dark days” when she bursts into tears and “you ask yourself why am I here?’ It doesn’t stop when you come home, you can just burst into tears and don’t know what you are crying for”.
“I have my medals and I feel proud…but you come home from the war, your body comes home but your mind stays there. That’s why I am glad our troops were not sent to Iran.”
She is glad we did not get involved in Trump’s Iran war: “It’s really not our war.
Janet Riddell, 59, was in the Royal Navy, travelling in a Black Hawk helicopter when it was shot down by small arms fire, damaging her knees in the crash. After years of pain her right leg was amputated in 2017.
“The helicopter I boarded was shot down outside Baghdad by small arms fire. I remember the gunners firing from either side and the flares launching to try and divert any heat-seeking missiles, but it was the bullets hitting the rotor blades that brought us down.
“The pilot somehow managed to land the helicopter, but we hit the ground with an enormous thud. I was thrown forward and badly injured both knees, particularly my right one. The pain was immediate. My knee kept popping in and out, but like most military people, I tried to carry on. I didn’t want somebody else emergency-drafted out to replace me — especially because I knew the woman who would likely have been sent, and she was in the middle of IVF treatment at the time. So I stayed.
“We were under constant mortar fire in Baghdad. Saddam Hussein was executed while I was out there, and we knew the next day would be bad because the mortars intensified immediately afterwards.
“Sometimes we didn’t even wear body armour, especially when I was working in Saddam’s old palace. A friend and I used to cling onto each other whenever the incoming rounds started. We jokingly called it “the Baghdad dance.” I found out recently that he passed away a few years ago, which hit me hard.”
