Iraq Hercules victims: Funeral of Squadron Leader
30th March 2005

Squadron Leader Patrick Marshall, 39, was was buried after a service which included a Tornado flypast at the RAF chapel of St Michael and All Angels in Cranwell, Lincolnshire, this afternoon.

The service came one week after an inquest into the deaths of the 10 men was finally opened in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.

The hearing conducted by Wiltshire Coroner David Masters heard that the Hercules sent out a distress signal just eight minutes after take-off.

A staff officer serving with Headquarters Strike Command, RAF High Wycombe, Squadron Leader Marshall, who joined the air force in 1990, was on temporary detachment to Iraq as a liaison officer.

Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Squadron Leader Marshall was an RAF child, spending his first 10 years moving between his father Shaun`s postings in Farnborough, Boscombe Down, Wiltshire and Cranwell. He later attended at Cabin Hill prep school in Belfast before going on to Campbell College, a grammar school, and Queen`s University Belfast.

In a moving tribute issued by his family, he is described as: "a child, full of spirit and fun, but with a very kind and thoughtful side to his nature." The statement told of how when asked by a teacher at the age of eight whether he could play the xylophone his reply was a nonchalant: "Oh, probably". "Signs of a positive outlook on life," the statement said.

Today`s service attended by Air Vice Marshal Cliffe, and Group Captain Paul Oborn, Station Commander of RAF Lyneham, heard prayers written by his sister Fiona Harrison and readings including the anonymous poem "Remember me".

In a sermon delivered by Rev (Squadron Leader) Stephen Radley, chaplain of RAF Cranwell, the mourners were told: "In the choice Patrick made to join the Royal Air Force, he choose to serve others and through this choice we see a reflection of the character of God in Patrick`s life."