Tears of soldier's girlfriend as eight killed in Afghanistan come home

Tears of soldier's girlfriend as eight killed in Afghanistan repatriated


By Murray Wardrop
Published: 9:56PM BST 14 Jul 2009


Sasha, the 20 year-old girlfriend of fallen Rifleman Daniel Hume, was joined by thousands of mourners who lined the streets of the town to to pay their respects to the men killed during the bloodiest 24 hours for British front line troops since the Falklands.

The bodies of Corporals Jonathan Horne, 28 and Lee Scott, 26, Private John Brackpool, 27, and Riflemen William Aldridge, 18, James Backhouse, 18, Joseph Murphy, 18, Daniel Simpson, 20, and Hume, were flown into RAF Lyneham on Tuesday afternoon.


A private ceremony for friends and relatives was held at the base's chapel of rest before a cortege of eight hearses left the base, carrying the Union flag-draped coffins through Wootton Bassett.

The market town fell silent before a church bell tolled and friends and family sobbed and hugged each other as the cortege, bound for John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, passed by.

Many people threw flowers on the hearses, veterans saluted and some clapped to honour the men who were killed in Helmand province.
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Tears of soldiers girlfriend as eight killed in Afghanistan repatriated