The above hearses contain the bodies of Lance Corporal David Dennis, Private Rovert Laws, Lance Corporal Dane Elson, Captain Ben Babington-Browne and Trooper Christopher Whiteside who were all killed in the bloody war in Afghanistan last week.
The photograph shows the hearses moving through the main street of the small Wiltshire town of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire. The people of Wootton Bassett have taken it upon themselves to honour our fallen who arrive in nearby RAF Lyneham and ensure their arrival back home is given the respect and courtesy they deserve.
The welcome home in Wotton Bassett has become a horribly familiar one over the last two years. It is not organised. Local people, veterans, service personnel stationed locally, leather-clad bikers and bereaved families just turn up, line the street and bear witness.
The people of Britain owe a huge debt of gratitude to this small population for their extraordinary effort to ensure that our protectors are given a dignified farewell on their final journey. Talk is easy, action is more demanding and for these folk to turn out regularly to support such a tragic occasion asks a great deal.
Words of thanks sound trite, but from such a distance they are all I can offer. There are not many communities such as this left in the UK, the kind which show a solid sense of value, understanding and respect for others. Their strength is in living together not apart.
Sadly last week will not be the last time they turn out for such an occasion, but that's another post.
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16 comments:
The people of Wooton BAssett are incredible.
They see this sight regularly and indeed as we progress in time more and more regularly.
But they turn out in droves. They show respect, they show steely resolution and they show emotion and humility as well.
Hat tip to each one of them.
Far more than any government minister.
Fortunately the folk of Hereford will welcome home survivng soldiers tomorrow. Well done to the people of Wooton Basset. Anti-Government is far from anti our brave Forces.
I should have asked you to write this LotF, you've said it so much better than me.
Good news indeed OR but how many injured? We're not being given these numbers because 'they're not in the public interest.'
Bullsh!t. If people actually saw the numbers I'm sure most would be horrified and the extent of some of the injuries.
subrosa,
Greetings,
What is even more sad is that a number of these casualties could be prevented as more effective vehicles offering a very high degree of mine protection are available but their deployment is subjected to delays due to the incompetencte of the "desk warriors" at Whitehall.
Not in the least trite, actually.
Very well said.
Rosa .
Last Thursday I posted my opinion on the good people of Wootten Bassett and the dignified response they demonstrate every time one of our Boys are repatriated to the UK from the battle fields of Iraq and now Afghanistan.
I summed up their community in three words - Simply The Best
http://bigdollop.blogspot.com/2009/07/summed-up-in-three-words-simply-best.html
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Your own post was anything but trite, spoken in a heartfelt manner your feelings on the matter come across as being very sincere and genuine.
Yoohoo Brownlie, how good to see you. True the land transport isn't adequate but the air transport is far worse. I don't know the exact statistics but I've read the US has 10/1 in comparison.
Do hope you're well and enjoying the summer.
Thank you SU.
BD, I'm so sorry but I didn't see your post. I've just looked and my blog list seems to have a few stuck again. I'll re-thingie you and the others.
Thanks very much for your compliment. Words just never seem enough and the other week I was accused of being a 'sympathy monger' by banned because he/she lives in a town where the military is prominent. That upset me.
Mind you, I think it would upset banned more if he knew a few of the reasons for my comments but I have no intention of divulging them.
The people of Wootton Bassett are simply marvellous people. But why isn't a government mnister and a member of the royal family there to pay respect on behalf of the rest of us? Why is it left to these people?
We should demand that someone be there, although perhaps the families would prefer not to have their brave young men so dishonoured by the presence of any of that scum.
Tris if I was a member of a family present, I would quite possibly strangle any politician.
Gordon Brown had his chances over and over again to provide representation. He didn't. I'm quite sure none would be welcome now.
Yes SR, I can see that. I'm know my mother has always said that if ever she were invloved in any disaster, the last thing she would want was Gordon Brown or Charles Windsor, trying to cash in on it.
It was stupid of me to suggest it, I suppose. It's just like, apart from saying a few solemn words about it at PMQs, they don't seem to care.
The appearance of a Government Minister would add nothing to the wonderful if sombre show of respect by the good folk of Wooton Basset; let's hope the Tories & other politicos have the decency to stay away too.
Soz for the upset SR, the term sympathy monger was not aimed at you, it was for the anti-war heart-on-my-sleeve each-death-proves-my-point lefty fem vegans.
No problem banned, I appreciate your apology. It did hurt mind you.
Each death doesn't prove my point sadly, I wish it did. That madman Brown was on TV earlier saying the planning was in order and lots more crap. Yes crap because that's what he spouts these days.
That's because they don't care Tris. You ought to listen to those on the front line when they know a politician is 'visiting'. They're not happy, in least because their whole routines are disrupted sometimes for days and this can cause great instability with team work and operations.
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