Soldiers who served in Iraq have been reflecting on the conflict – 15 years on from the end of the war.
On Friday, the Royal British Legion will mark the anniversary of the end of combat operations with a commemoration at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
Soldiers from across north-east England will attend the service, including Dominic Conway, a Royal Marine from North Tyneside, and Rikki Drury, a veteran from Redcar.
Drury was 18 when he was sent to Iraq and said being plunged into an insurgency, rather than a conventional war, came as a shock.
