Colchester mourns dead soldiers

By Jon Brain
BBC News

The garrison was a focus for tributes

The garrison town of Colchester in Essex pays tribute to five paratroopers killed in the last week in Afghanistan.

Members of the 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment marched through Colchester's High Street to spontaneous applause from watching shoppers.

But this was no celebration. This garrison town is in mourning after the regiment which calls the town its home suffered its worst single week since the Falklands war.

As a bugler played The Last Post from the balcony of the town hall, the bustle of the high street came to an abrupt halt.

Army officials were joined by local dignitaries and members of the public to observe a minute's silence. Many people were in tears.

To lose five of our own in as many days has just devastated the town Irene Kettle Colchester Gazette

It had originally been meant as a tribute to three soldiers.

Privates Nathan Cuthbertson, Charles David Murray and Daniel Gamble were killed in Helmand Province on Sunday by a suicide bomber.

But yesterday two of their colleagues - who have yet to be named - died under enemy fire.

Five dead in five days. Even for a town which is well aware of the risks of military operations this has been a numbing experience.

'God bless'

As she supervised the layout of the front page of the Colchester Gazette, the newspaper's editor Irene Kettle said that the fact the regiment is at the heart of the town has made the blow that much harder.

David Murray from Carlisle was 19

"To lose five of our own in as many days has just devastated the town" she said. "We're in shock."

That sense of shock has an outlet at the entrance to the barracks on Mersea Road.

A steady flow of people have been arriving to tie floral tributes to the white railings.

Among the messages of despair and sympathy is one from a seven-year-old girl: "You have made our country proud. Now sleep tight. God bless you."

But everyone here is aware that with the conflict in Afghanistan continuing there may be more grief to come.