Territory.
Assyrian Levies.
This is a good website for me since both my grandfather's fought in both the world wars.
Both my parent's were born in Habbaniyah. The British withdrawed from Iraq on the year of my mother's birth, 1955, then all hell broke loose for us. I've been reading stuff from this website that was compiled by this Assyrian-American. It's a lot to read but really good for me because it offers a wealth of information. I can say with complete confidence that people my age know nothing about the lives of their grandparent's.
I have been really interested in genealogy because for the longest time I wondered about my family members. They have led interesting lives, of that I am sure but that still doesn't feed me enough. I want to know more. I don't know if I'm ever going to get anywhere though. It's going to be hard to even begin and I'm not planning to do that anytime soon. I would have to go to Habbaniyah first and then I'll eventually make my way to southeast Turkey. I've been writing everything down though, the names of my grandparent's and my great-grandparent's and what their tribes are called.
Sometimes I stop and think, do I really need to know all this? I know what I will find. I know our cultural history and it just makes me angry and sad. I don't know. It'll just be nice to feel like I know my ancestors a little.
Maybe it will explain to me why my father is mowing the lawn under torrential rain right now.