While military service was mandatory in Iraq, many patriotic Jews would choose to make a military career to defend their country or contribute to the military effort.
This is a small thread on Jewish soldiers in the Iraqi army.
Feel free to contribute to the thread.

#IraqiJews

Some choose the army as their career, like Amara born, Ezra Ben Nahum. He was admitted to the prestigious Baghdad Royal Military College in 1934. The only Jew in the training program that year, he received the rank of lieutenant in 1936 and then was promoted major.

Naji Dabi always wanted to be a pilot. He enrolled in the Royal Military College during a time when King Faisal encouraged Jews and other minorities to contribute to the prosperity of Iraq.
Naji never hid the fact he was a Jew.

Even before Iraq became an independant country, Jews from Baghdad served in the Ottoman army. This is a picture of Yaakov Avraham Hamara in the late 19th century. In those days, many soldiers who went to the Ottoman army never came back home.
(Courtesy of Almog Levi)

Others would contribute to the effort and share their knowledge with soldiers. Here is course of pharmacy in the Iraqi Army, led by Yaqoub Kuwaiti in 1939. Yaqoub was a pharmacist in Baghdad. Next,a picture of Dr Kuwaiti, Dr Kori, Itzkhak Michael and two other Jewish soldiers.

Despite the fact that an unofficial numerus clausus of Jewish officials was established in the middle of the 1930s, many Jews were still part of the military recruits. According to sources, 1 out of 4 recruit in Baghdad was a young Jew back in 1940.

The military was also a place where people from different backgrounds could meet. No matter the wealth of one’s family, they would train as hard as the officer next to them. This is a picture of Abraham Rajwan and his friend Zemah in 1935, courtesy of Mirah Samiyah Rajwan.

After hearing about the conditions of Jewish refugees in Israel, Dr Munir Shemesh decided to stay in Iraq nonetheless.
After military service in 1951, he was drafted in the army. Under Qassem he lived a good life as a doctor but with the rise of Baathism, he definitely fled Iraq.

Other personal photographs retrieved from National Archives :
- Officer Patel in 1930 (courtesy of David Patel)
- Officer Ezra Shlomo David in 1937 (courtesy of Matilda Dotan)
- Officer Naji Shashua in 1942 (courtesy of Violet Shashua)