Families grieve for their lost heroes

ergeant Gareth Thursby, 29, and Private Thomas Wroe, 18, were serving with the 3rd Battalion when they were shot dead at a checkpoint in the south of Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, on Saturday.

Their attacker lured them towards him by feigning injury so they would help him, according to defence sources.

Sgt Thursby, from Skipton, North Yorkshire, is survived by his wife Louise and two children, Joshua and Ruby.

His wife said: “Gareth was the love of my life. He was an amazing husband and father, happy, full of life and kind-hearted, with a passion for his work and family. He was brave, hard working, a loving husband who was a devoted father to his children. Our hero.”

Pte Wroe was deployed to Afghanistan on July 1, just a week after his 18th birthday. He is survived by his parents, Mick and Claire, sister Demi, and long-term girlfriend Jessica Nunn.

Speaking at the family home in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, yesterday, his parents described their son’s excitement at finally being old enough to join his friends in Afghanistan.

His father, 48, a former soldier who also served with the Dukes, said: “He wasn’t interested in anything else, he just wanted to be in the Army. It’s all he ever wanted to do. He was following in the family footsteps and fulfilling his life’s dream. He was a hero – a well-loved hero.”

His mother, 39, added: “He walked into a room and lit it up. He was a ray of light to everybody.”

Colleagues of the pair also paid their tributes yesterday.

Sgt Thursby, who had completed tours of duty in Kosovo and Iraq, was nicknamed Bull because of his strength and confidence.

His commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Stenning, said: “He was admired and deeply respected by his soldiers and peers for his soldiering skills, physical strength and forthright honesty. Utterly professional, his standards were legendary.”

He added: “I heard just a few weeks ago he had told his platoon to call him Dad during the tour. That is how he saw himself: a father figure for 30 men and women involved in gruelling operations.”

Lt Col Stenning said Pte Wroe, who joined the Army in September 2010, had made a “significant” impression in a short time.

“His quick wit, love of Huddersfield Town Football Club, board games and genuine ‘can do’ nature made him a popular member of the team,” he said.

“He already had that unique quality of command presence that an Army requires; people looked to him for leadership 
in dangerous and difficult moments.

“I have no doubt he would have attended and passed our Junior Leader Course, way ahead of his time.”

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday insisted military operations in Afghanistan would not be derailed as he expressed his sadness at the “cowardly” act that took the soldiers’ lives.

Addressing an urgent question in the Commons, he said: “Our servicemen and women are doing vital work protecting the UK from the threat of international terrorism.

“Our strategy is clear – we are mentoring and training the Afghan army and police to deliver security to their own people.

“The Taliban hate this strategy and seek to wreck it through insider attacks. They aim to disrupt the collaboration with Afghan forces which is at the heart of our strategy. We cannot and we will not allow the process to be derailed.”

He said the partnership with Afghan security forces involved risk “but it is essential”. He said the issue had been at the top of his agenda in recent meetings with president Hamid Karzai, who had reassured him the Afghan government was doing all it could to minimise the danger.

“All our losses in Afghanistan are tragic but the pain feels all the more raw when the incident undermines the trust our forces have built up with the Afghans as they work towards our goal,” he said.

The shooting brought Britain’s military death toll in Afghanistan to 430. It followed the death of Lance Corporal Duane Groom, from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards on Friday, when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

Two US Marines were also killed in an attack on Camp Bastion that day, and on Sunday at least one Afghan police officer turned his gun on Nato troops at a checkpoint, killing four Americans.