Crowds mourn in 100th ceremony of repatriation

Published on Friday 20 November 2009 21:46

HUNDREDS of civilians and servicemen stood shoulder to shoulder in Wootton Bassett yesterday to pay their last respects to two heroes who died in Afghanistan.

Nicola Marlton-Thomas, 30, widow of one of the soldiers, clutched a teddy bear as she watched his coffin pass through a town hosting its 100th repatriation ceremony.

The body of her husband, Corporal Loren Marlton-Thomas, 28, of 33 Engineer Regiment, was flown back to RAF Lyneham yesterday morning before his cortege drove through the high street.

Returning with him was Rifleman Andrew Fentiman, 23, of 7th Battalion The Rifles.

Cpl Marlton-Thomas, of Braintree, Essex, and Rifleman Fentiman, from Cambridge, died in separate incidents in Helmand Province on Sunday. After a private ceremony for their families, the hearses paused at the war memorial where they were strewn with flowers. Rifleman Fentiman's partner Jo also watched the parade. Erin and Macaulay Smout, aged nine and 13, whose father was in the same regiment as Cpl Marlton-Thomas, also appeared in the crowd.

Cpl Marlton-Thomas's cousin, Lt Colonel James Rutter, 53, of the army air corps, said: "He was a page boy at my wedding 25 years ago. He was in a replica of my number one dress suit – he wanted to be a soldier for most of his life. That it is the 100th is quite terrible in its own way, but we are so grateful to the people of Wootton Bassett for being so faithful and coming out."

Mayor of Wootton Steve Bucknell said of the milestone: "From our point of view, there's no difference between one and another.

"But I suppose for those who do count these things, it is a way of marking just how costly this war has been. It started 30 months ago and there has been one roughly every three weeks. That tells the story of the cost of the war."