Town out to honour fallen soldiers

12 April 2012

A town centre came to a standstill as thousands of people lined the streets to pay their respects to two soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Thousands packed the streets of Grimsby as the bodies of Sergeant Matthew Telford and Guardsman Jimmy Major were brought home.

Under cloudy skies and drizzling rain relatives of the two men joined veterans, shoppers and civic dignitaries for the solemn event.

As the cortege passed outside the Town Hall it paused to allow the grieving relatives an opportunity to throw flowers on the hearses and lay a flag on the bonnet.

Many wept and hugged each other as the Union flag draped coffins passed by in a silver and a black hearse. A lone highland piper played a lament as standard-bearers from the Royal British Legion lowered their flags as the coffins passed by.

At one point the crowds broke out in spontaneous clapping as the cortege drove through the city centre.

Many were clutching flowers and Unions flags while others wore t-shirts with Jimmy Major's face emblazoned on the front.

Sergeant Telford, 37, and Guardsman Major, 18, from the Grenadier Guards lost their lives alongside three other soldiers when they were shot by a rogue Afghan policeman earlier this month.

The funerals of both men will take place next week.

The five soldiers were shot dead by a rogue Afghan police officer at a secure checkpoint at Helmand Province on November 3 in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

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