Major Dickie Head looks bemused as we emerge from the safety of an armoured Iraqi Army Humvee and walk towards what was one of the most dangerous parts of Basra - now a small, but busy, market. This is the first time he has returned to this area since a tour of duty which saw him and his men engulfed in a vicious and lengthy battle near the city centre. His unit was trying to recover the bodies of the five British service-personnel killed when a Lynx helicopter was brought down by insurgents on 6 May 2006.