Repatriation Of Eight British Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan In Pictures
WHILE 300 BBC hacks were at T in the Park, and the press was gawping at Michael Jackson’s snowy white remains eight hearses carrying the bodies of eight British soldiers killed during the Army’s bloodiest 24 hours in Afghanistan, make their way eastbound along the M4 Motorway near Swindon.
Mourners comfort each other as eight hearses carrying the bodies of eight British soldiers killed during the Army’s bloodiest 24 hours in Afghanistan, make their way through the Wiltshire village of Wootton Bassett.
Posted: 14th, July 2009 | In: Media Comments (5) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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July 16th, 2009 at 9:25 am
C&C. I agree. This is getting a little too ’spontaneous’ now
July 16th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Sky news is very good at reporting all the repatriations and the moving local tributes through Wooten Bassett.
I watched and was just so moved.
However, I have watched previous tributes where both old and young soldiers stand at the kerb and salute and the locals all congregate and bow respectfully. British legion members turn out and so do young mums and their babies.
This time I felt it was heading into Diana territory with the throwing of flowers and even football shirts and then the clapping and crying and collapsing and holding up of banners for the cameras.
NO NO NO. Leave it as it was with the families at RAF Lineham for the official (moving) ceremony and a respectful silence from a respectful crowd as the coffins pass through the village.
These are young men who died horrendous deaths at war, not pop stars, tv stars or princesses.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:29 am
In wartime, “truth is the first casualty,” Senator Hiram Johnson said in 1917.
There is little difference now. The turning point in Vietnam was probably the publication of photographs of the My Lai massacre after which 26 soldiers were prosecuted and only one convicted.
The new reality is Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and all other hot spots (including the resurgence now seething in Northern Ireland) are only shown from the “oppressor” viewpoint. Live feeds from Sky, BBC, CNN, FOX, AFP, and so on, all are represented. Even so, the intimate horrors of the victorious over the vanquished are exposed instantly and not when invading forces discover the Belsen and Auschwitz camps.
In 2009, the horror is as readily available as a plastic pre packed cat meal…and the body count rises, the KIA planes start to disgorge more and more flag draped coffins. The bells toll, the penny drops.
It is sometimes difficult to escape the lessons of history but it is a simple fact, Britain has NEVER had a decisive victory in its engagements in Afghanistan or the Middle East.. In every single case, the terrain, logistics or the enraged and abused residents have trounced the Brits. It may even soon be revealed the Military Men knew this in the beginning and counselled Blair and Bush these were the home truths.
What is, frankly, macabre to the point of an insane hilarity is everyone seems to have forgotten the Afghans fought and by slow and constant attrition forced the defeat and retreat of one of the then world’s superpowers…the USSR.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Was moved to tears during the 10 o’clock news. RIP to all, a thousand times braver than I could ever hope to be.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
moving sight , isn’t it? average age approx 23? if that many had died on the M4 (or other motorway) I just wonder what Govt reaction would be?