Military funeral for soldier

Corporal Rees leaves a wife and two children

A Carmarthenshire soldier crushed to death while moving army vehicles destined for Iraq will have a full military funeral.

Corporal Thomas Eirian Rees was trapped between two armoured personnel carriers as he unloaded them at Teesport, Middlesbrough, last month.

Many of his colleagues from The King's Regiment will travel from their base at Catterick, North Yorkshire, to attend the service in his home village of Pembrey on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old father-of-two, known as Eirian, will receive a gunfire salute.

The service at St Illtyd's Church will be taken by the Vicar of Pembrey, Canon Alan Meats.

He said it was expected there would be a large number of mourners, both from the Army and the local community.

"Eirian spent a great deal of time away but his family are all very well known in the community," said Canon Meats.

"It was just a tragic accident and there is a lot of sympathy for his wife Andrea and their children at this time."

Regimental campaigns

Corporal Rees had been in the Army half his life, joining as soon as he left the former Burry Port Secondary Modern School.

He had been decorated in his career for serving in regimental campaigns and tours in Berlin, Northern Ireland, Canada, the Falklands, the US, Belize, Cyprus and Kenya.

Corporal Rees was the ground commander of a team dealing with the transportation of the vehicles to the Gulf ahead of the deployment of the regiment

An investigation into the incident is still being carried out by Cleveland Police, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Ministry of Defence.