| Four soldiers
repatriated to Lyneham
12th April 2007
Eight days after the nation rejoiced at the return of
15 Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel and coincidentally
at the same time a repariation ceremony of two
British soldiers killed in Iraq, we witness another poignant
repatriation ceremony of four British soldiers killed by a
roadside bomb near Basra,
southern
Iraq.
Last night a sunset repatriation ceremony was held at a
base in Basra, southern Iraq, before their coffins
were
put
on a flight to Wiltshire. The bodies of four soldiers,
including two women, have been flown back to the RAF Lyneham
this morning.
Second Lieutenant Joanna Yorke Dyer, 24, Corporal
Kris O'Neill, 27, Private Eleanor Dlugosz, 19, and Kingsman
Adam James
Smith, 19,
were
attacked on 5 April near Basra.
Second Lieutenant Dyer, from
Yeovil, Somerset, had trained at Sandhurst military academy
with
Prince William, who described her as a "close friend".
The prince has expressed his deep sadness at her death. The
pair were both commissioned as officers on the same day in
December during a parade at the academy, which was
attended by the Queen. Kingsman Smith, from Liverpool, served in 2nd Battalion
The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, alongside 2nd Lieutenant
Dyer. Corporal O'Neill, who was from Catterick, and Private
Dlugosz, from
Southampton, were both in the Royal Army Medical Corps. The
deaths brought the number of UK service personnel who have
died since the hostilities in Iraq to 140, of whom 108
died in action.
Picture: Top inset, the Gigantic C17 in a low level tribute
flypast over the village carrying the four British Soldiers.
Bottom
insets: Top; Second Lieutenant Joanna Yorke Dyer, right;
Corporal Kris O’Neill, lower; Private
Eleanor Dlugosz, left; Kingsman Adam Smith
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