Paul Pardoel's wife, Kellie, left, and children India, 2, Jackson, 6, and Jordon, 7, are comforted by family and friends at yesterday's funeral

Tears for a soldier and family man
9th April 2005
The Sydney Morning Herald
www.smh.com.au
The three young children of Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, Australia's first military casualty in Iraq, yesterday paid a moving tribute to their father. The 35-year-old former RAAF officer was killed on January 30 along with nine British servicemen while serving with the Royal Air Force.

His children - Jordan, 7, Jackson, 6, and India, 2 - each drew a picture of their father to go in the service booklet for the military funeral held at St Christopher's Cathedral in Canberra.

"Daddy flying his cloud plane, always loving us," said the caption on Jordan's picture.

"Daddys looking after us and the world," Jackson wrote. Under India's picture it said: "Daddy's hair."

RAF Group Captain Steve Duffill, former station commander to RAF Lyneham, who welcomed Flight Lieutenant Pardoel to England three years ago and is now based at the British High Commission in Canberra, told reporters the Australian and British military had lost a special person."

Paul was respected as a very professional navigator but also I would add that as an individual he was an excellent man," he said.

Group Captain Duffill, pictured left, said "Flight Lieutenant Pardoel and his wife Kellie Merritt, along with their children, made a big impression at the RAF Lineham base in southern Britain. They were clearly very much in love. They had a very special relationship and they were very popular," he said.