In Remembrance: Lance Corporal Christopher Harkett — 2 Royal Welsh, Musa Qaleh, 14 March 2009

Lance Corporal Christopher “H” Harkett, 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, was killed near Musa Qaleh on 14 March 2009. He was 22 and from Pontardawe, Swansea.

H was a personal friend of mine. He was killed before my own HERRICK 10/11 service with 3 Platoon, A Company at Minden PB in Musa Qalah, so I am not going to rewrite the chronology and make it sound as though we served together there. We did not. He is here because I knew him, I lost a friend, and Musa Qalah later became part of my own life as well.

From Recce/Sniper Platoon to C Company

H had joined the battalion in 2004 and had already served in Iraq. During his career he trained as a team medic, Warrior gunner and signaller, and later served in the battalion’s reconnaissance and sniper organisation.

For the Afghanistan deployment he volunteered to reinforce C Company and served as a sniper. The MOD record describes him as an experienced and well-liked junior commander whose humour and energy had a marked effect on those around him.

14 March 2009

H was part of a C Company foot patrol operating near Musa Qaleh when he was killed by an explosion.

Official tributes state that he had moved into a position to provide covering fire for other soldiers. His death came during the battalion’s first period of operations in Afghanistan and was deeply felt across C Company and the wider regiment.

Remembering H

Across the MOD tributes, the same things come up repeatedly: professional competence, selflessness, loyalty and a sense of humour that lifted morale. He was simply “H” to a lot of us.

There are two parts of his story here and I want them kept separate. The official record puts him where he actually was: C Company, with a Recce/Sniper background, killed in March 2009. My part is personal. He was my friend. When I later served at Minden in Musa Qalah, I was serving in ground already tied in my mind to somebody I had lost.

Return to Log 042 — Helmand Province →

Return to Log 041 — Operation HERRICK →

Official remembrance record

Ministry of Defence — Lance Corporal Christopher Harkett →

Image note: The MOD portrait is marked “All rights reserved”, so I have not reproduced it here without permission.