Tears fall as town salutes fallen

By Caroline Wyatt
Defence correspondent, BBC News

People lined the main street three deep to honour the dead

For the last few years, the people of Wootton Bassett have been quietly and respectfully supporting the British armed forces.

Many of the bodies of UK service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are flown back home to nearby RAF Lyneham, and thence through the Wiltshire town to the the mortuary at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Every time a body is repatriated, hundreds of veterans, shopkeepers and local residents take a moment out of their lives to honour the servicemen and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Once again, serving soldiers, veterans and the young and old bowed their heads in honour of Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe and Trooper Joshua Hammond, some quietly wiping away tears.

Among the crowd was John Beauchamp, an RAF veteran of Malaya, Borneo, Northern Ireland and the Falklands.

He is one of the three men who began Wootton Bassett's tradition of paying public homage to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Said John: "We started it by chance. When the first cortege came through, nobody knew it was coming. We happened to be on the high street and we stood to attention.

It's always a very sober occasion, and inevitably when you see coffins come out of the back of an aircraft, it makes everyone's heart stop General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff

"And from there on, word began to spread. We did it as a mark of respect for the young lad who'd died, and soon it was a thousand people lining the streets here."

So why do they do it?

John says: "Because the government doesn't do it. We have never, ever had a government minister down here - only our MP, James Gray. He is the only one who has stood here with us. None of the others have.

"Maybe they're ashamed, because they know that the feeling here runs so high for each of the young lads who come through - irrespective of rank. The smallest number of people we have had here to witness a cortege was 600."

John is not sure whether the British campaign in Afghanistan can succeed, but he believes that the men and women of Britain's armed forces will give their utmost in the attempt.

Also standing alongside the people of Wootton Bassett as they paid their respects was the professional head of the Army, the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt.

He had been at RAF Lyneham with the families, and was a personal friend of Col Thorneloe - whom he has described as a "born leader" and an "outstanding commander".

The day was sad, sombre and difficult for many

Today, General Dannatt again paid tribute to the dead.

"It's always a very sober occasion, and inevitably when you see coffins come out of the back of an aircraft, it makes everyone's heart stop. It was very, very sad," he told the BBC.

"We were all here paying tribute to both of the soldiers - a young soldier and a Commanding Officer represent the most senior and the most junior in a battle-group, and we really do salute both of them, from the most senior to the most junior."

And he described those gathered along the street in Wootton Bassett as "the best of the British people" in the way they honoured the fallen.

Sadly, the people of Wootton Bassett know already that they will be back to pay their respects to the dead all too often over the coming week, as the bodies of yet more British soldiers who died in Helmand Province at the weekend are brought home.