Family, friends and more than 2,000 well wishers stood in silence as six young soldiers killed in Afghanistan were brought home and driven past the crowds in a cortege of identical black Mercedes.
Sobbing was the only sound that could be heard as the hearses slowed to a halt beside a memorial garden in Carterton a mile from RAF Brize Norton into which the bodies of the members of the 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment had been flown yesterday lunchtime.
The men were killed when their Warrior armoured vehicle was caught in a blast in Helmand, taking the toll of British service personnel killed in Afghanistan past 400.
The mother of 19-year-old Christopher Kershaw clutched a framed photograph of her dead son. The mother of Anthony Frampton wore a white T-shirt bearing his picture and the words “My Beautiful Boy 1991 – 2012”. Others members of the family wore similar tee shorts saying “A hero”.
Members of the Royal British Legion lowered their standards as the vehicles passed. Each hearse was covered with flowers during the brief pause on their way to the mortuary at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. There was spontaneous applause and the families clung to each other as the cortege led by police motorcycles pulled away.
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The six men, five of them under 22, were killed by a massive roadside bomb shortly after they left their base on March 6. Privates Anthony Frampton, Christopher Kershaw, Daniel Wade, 20, and Daniel Wilford, 21, Corporal Jake Hartley, 20, and Sergeant Nigel Coupe, 33, had only been in Afghanistan for two weeks and had been looking forward to going on patrol.
On the day of the bombing, Brogan Whigton received a letter from Private Kershaw telling her he was settling in and had already got sunburn and windburn in the hot, dusty climate.
Miss Whigton, 19, made the journey from Leeds with a minibus full of his friends to pay their last respects. She had been at his farewell party at which he had arrived at dressed as Mario from the Super Marion Bros computer game.
She said: “He said he was nervous but was looking forward to going on patrol for the first time. I got the letter on the Tuesday morning and heard he’d been killed that afternoon.”
Lauren Fox, 18, another friend who met Private Kershaw in the army cadets, said: “He was always cracking jokes. He always knew everything. He was a natural leader and loved the army.”
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Private Kershaw was their second close friend to die in Afghanistan. In November Rifleman Sheldon Steel, 20, from Leeds, was killed by a bomb while on foot patrol with the Rifles.
For the girls enough now is enough. Miss Fox said: “They shouldn’t wait until 2014, they should bring them home now.”
Laura Walton, also from Leeds, agreed. Her father is a sergeant major in the Royal Artillery on his third tour in Afghanistan. She said: “He’s been away for the past three Christmases and misses my birthdays. I worry about him all the time.”
Dominic Douglas, 20, from Huddersfield, had come to say farewell to two close friends. He went to primary school with Private Wilford and secondary school with Private Frampton.
He went to Private Frampton’s leaving party on February 28, the last time he saw his friend. Mr Douglas said: “He was a top guy, he had a lot of friends.”
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Peter Rashid, who has known Private Frampton all his life, said: “He loved the army but he told me he didn’t really agree with the war because Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein had been killed already.”
This was the 13th repatriation for a total of 24 dead servicemen since the ceremonies were moved to RAF Brize Norton from RAF Lyneham in September.
The families attended a service at the specially built chapel of rest before joining other well wishers for the public farewell.
Lee Saunders, another close friend of Private Frampton, said he was delighted that so many people had turned out to honour the dead. “I know he would be quite surprised to see how many people have come here,” he said. “It is amazing to see such a crowd.”