Bodies of heroes flown back to the UK
The families and friends of a Wolverhampton-born soldier and two comrades killed in Afghanistan were joined by hundreds of people in a poignant tribute to their memory as their bodies were repatriated to the UK.
The families and friends of a Wolverhampton-born soldier and two comrades killed in Afghanistan were joined by hundreds of people in a poignant tribute to their memory as their bodies were repatriated to the UK.
The bodies of Captain Rupert Bowers, aged 24, Sergeant Luke Taylor, 33, and Lance Corporal Michael Foley, 25, were flown to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
The servicemen have all been described as "devoted" to their families, with Capt Bowers becoming a father just last month.
Private services for the men's relatives were held before the cortege left the base on its way to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
The convoy of hearses was escorted at walking pace as it approached the memorial garden in Carterton, where the Union Flag was hung at half-mast and service personnel and members of the public stood shoulder to shoulder.
Capt Bowers, of 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, was killed last week in a roadside bomb blast.
Wolverhampton-born Capt Bowers, who was attached to 2nd Battalion The Rifles when he died, is survived by wife Victoria, and newborn son Hugo. A former pupil of Old Swinford Hospital School in Stourbridge, he lived with his 25-year-old wife in Oakham, Leicestershire.
