Coalition team restores Iraqi shrine

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jessica Lockoski
  • 506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq --  Thanks to a partnership between Airmen and their Iraqi counterparts here, family and friends visiting an on-base cemetery and shrine for the first time in almost three decades were once again able to enjoy the beauty of this holy place.

Airmen from the 506th Air Expeditionary Group and Iraqi airmen worked closely for several days on the Sultan Saqi Shrine cemetery restoration project. They repaired two structures, installed utilities and refaced the shrine's exterior. This project helped reinstate a suitable environment for families visiting to honor their loved ones.

Previously, a bleak, amber and orange chandelier that strung across the inside of the shrine's dome remained unlit. Visitors could only see the colorful scripts of the Qur'an painted along interior walls by the natural sunlight that streamed through the shrine's windows.

Senior Master Sgt. Gary Lytle, 506th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron electrical systems superintendent, literally shined light on the dim situation.

He and his team assisted in running permanent power to the shrine and repairing lights and electrical outlets in every room. The Palmer, Alaska, native deployed from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, also inspected the shrine's electrical systems to prevent electrical fire hazards in the more than 400-year-old building.

Sergeant Lytle said that by helping with this small project, he sees how it contributes to providing freedom and liberties for the Iraqi people and their community. He said it was very inspiring for him, his shop's Airmen and the electrical contractor.

Working lights illuminated the green floor tiles and casings that cover the five tombs inside the shrine, yet there was still a need for another basic utility.

Close by, an aging building used as an open kitchen, with built in restrooms, didn't have clean running water.

Master Sgt. Todd McGee, 506th ECES plumber, ran a water supply line to the building, upgraded the water system and repaired commodes and sinks in the restrooms, he said.

Sergeant McGee, a Wahoo, Neb., native also deployed from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, said he enjoyed his opportunity to provide this capability. He said the experience is like an old saying, "Make it better than you found it."

As the Airmen worked on utility upgrades indoors, passersby outside the cemetery walls noticed restoration had begun to the shrine's exterior.

As former Iraqi MiG pilot Col. Adnan Hassan tore away sheets of the dome's weathered, green paint, Iraqi airmen were balanced on a shaky ladder about 50-feet high painting a new coat of primer on the shrine's dome. The Iraqi airmen also repainted the shrine's lime-stone plaster walls white.

The colonel said restoring the shrine was culturally important to the Iraqi airmen so that visiting Turcoman Shia, like him, can go there to pay respect to their family members buried there.

Time continues to age this centuries-old holy place, but for now this joint effort restored vibrancy to the shrine's nostalgic beauty, inside and out.