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Dead soldiers return home from Afghanistan
28.07.09
The bodies of five British soldiers killed in Afghanistan during one of the bloodiest periods since the current conflict began will return to British soil today.
Rifleman Aminiasi Toge, 26, Corporal Joseph Etchells, 22, Captain Daniel Shepherd, 28, Guardsman Christopher King, 20, and Bombardier Craig Hopson, 24, were all killed in separate incidents in Helmand Province.
The men will be repatriated at RAF Lyneham, in Wiltshire, shortly after 11am.
As has become tradition, coffins carrying their bodies will pass through the nearby town of Wootton Bassett, pausing at the war memorial, before heading on to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital for post-mortem examination.
Hundreds of British Legion veterans, shopkeepers and residents are expected to once again line the streets to pay their respects as the fallen men's cortege passes through.
Rifleman Toge, of 2nd Battalion The Rifles, from Suva, Fiji, was killed on July 16 in an explosion while he was on foot patrol close to Forward Operating Base Keenan, near Gereshk.
Corporal Etchells, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, from Mossley, Greater Manchester, was killed on July 19 in an explosion while on foot patrol, near Sangin.
Captain Shepherd, of the 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps, from Lincoln, died following an explosion on July 20 as he tried to clear a route in Nad-e-Ali District.
Guardsman King, who served as a rifleman with 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, died on July 22 while on foot patrol in the Nad-e-Ali District, when he stood on an explosive.
Bombardier Hopson, of 40th Regiment Royal Artillery, from Castleford, West Yorkshire, was killed on July 25 when the Jackal vehicle in which he was travelling struck a roadside bomb in Babaji.
At least two of the men - Guardsman King and Bombardier Hopson - were confirmed to have died taking part in Operation Panchai Palang, or Panther's Claw, a major assault against insurgents ahead of next month's Afghan elections.
Prime Minster Gordon Brown yesterday said Operation Panther's Claw had now drawn to a close and had "not been vain".
The Ministry of Defence announced last night that another two British troops were killed in separate incidents in Helmand yesterday morning, bringing the number of British personnel killed this month alone in Afghanistan to 22 - with 191 having died since the start of operations eight years ago.
