Body of Kidderminster soldier Richard Brandon returned home
“He couldn’t do enough for me and the kids and he treated them all equally.”
L/Cpl Brandon, who went to Afghanistan in April, was due to finish his tour in November.
Ms Webster added: “We thought we were running for the finish line. It’s comforting to know that he was doing the job he loved – he was going to do the full 22 years and that was it, no questions asked.”
L/Cpl Brandon, of the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), was repatriated along with Private Gavin Elliott, 19, of The 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment. The two men were killed in separate incidents last week.
The Mayor of Wootton Bassett, Steve Bucknell, said: “It always brings it home, with the close family members here, how much of a hole is left in people’s lives after the deaths of these soldiers. There are not just soldiers, but human beings, husbands, fathers, sons and daughters.
“We don’t count numbers but again the streets were lined with people. I won’t get involved with politics today. Everybody hopes there are no more deaths – but we know this won’t be the last repatriation.”
The coffins were carried from the C17 plane before a private service was held at the base’s chapel.
Pte Elliott, of Woodsetts, near Worksop, Nottinghamshire, died on September 3 after being shot while on foot patrol in Babaji district in Helmand Province.
The teenager’s family described him as “a hero and the best son and soldier we could have ever wished for”.
As has become tradition, the coffins carrying their bodies paused at the war memorial, before heading on to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital for post-mortem examinations.
Hundreds of British Legion veterans, shopkeepers and residents came out to pay their respects as the fallen men passed through.
Some 213 UK service personnel have died in Afghanistan since the conflict began in 2001.
