Town honours fallen once again as young soldiers' bodies return to UK

Guardsman Michael Sweeney, 19, of 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, and Rifleman Mark Turner, 21, of 3rd Battalion The Rifles, died in separate blasts in Helmand Province this month.

Their bodies were flown into RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, where their families attended a private ceremony in the chapel.

The soldiers' Union flag-draped coffins were then driven through y Wootton Bassett.

Crowds have lined the route to pay their respects since the bodies of British service personnel began being brought home through RAF Lyneham in April 2007.

Hundreds of people, including serving troops, veterans and local residents, watched in solemn silence as the cortege stopped and distraught relatives and friends placed red and white roses on the two hearses.

Guardsman Sweeney, from Blyth, Northumberland, was killed by a bomb in central Helmand on April 1.

The teenage soldier, who leaves behind his parents, Michael and Kim, brother, Sean and fiance, Michelle, was remembered by his family as a "proud Guardsman".

His commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Toby Gray, paid tribute to a "true son of the north country, proud Northumbrian, true Coldstreamer and outstanding soldier".

Rifleman Turner, from Gateshead, was killed by a roadside bomb in the Kajaki area of Helmand on Sunday.

The devoted Newcastle United fan, nicknamed Turtle, saved many of his comrades by risking his life to clear routes of improvised explosive devices.

He left his fiance, Liesha, mother, Anne, stepfather, Joe, brother, Dave and sisters, Lisa, Joanne and Julie.

n Soldiers of the Household Cavalry Regiment who recently returned from Afghanistan have been presented with campaign medals.

About 120 troops from C Squadron received the honours from Lieutenant General Barney White-Spunner at Combermere Barracks in Windsor, Berkshire.

The regiment also remembered a soldier killed during its six-month tour of Helmand. Lance Corporal of Horse Jonathan Woodgate, 26, from Lavenham, Suffolk, died in a grenade attack in March.