Town holds its final vigil in silent tribute to fallen heroes

Around 500 people lined the Wiltshire town’s high street to pay tribute to Royal Marine James Wright, 22, who was killed in Afghanistan last week.

The Marine, from Weymouth, Dorset, died in hospital after a grenade was thrown into his patrol’s checkpoint in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand.

His pregnant partner Shelley Robertson waited with his family for the cortege to arrive and she, his father David, mother Sallie and sister Katie, placed red roses on top of the hearse.

At the end of the month, repatriations return to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire as RAF Lyneham closes.

Wootton Bassett’s place in the story of the Britain’s operations in Afghanistan began only by chance in April 2007 when Brize Norton was closed for runway repairs. Instead the returning C-17s brought the bodies back to Lyneham – less than five miles from Wootton Bassett.

Local members of the Royal British Legion decided to salute the heroes as they passed through the town and were soon joined by townsfolk who stood in silent tribute to those whose bodies were being transported.