Salute to fallen troops

6:43pm Wednesday 19th November 2008

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Royal Marines and Royal British Legion members gathered in Oxford yesterday to pay tribute to three soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

More than 60 people lined Headley Way, at the entrance to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington, to salute the cortege carrying two Marines and a Gurkha, whose bodies were being transported to the hospital prior to inquests being held.

Brian Tinnion, 80, of the Bicester and District Royal Marines Association, said Marines from as far afield as Derby and Kent attended. He said: “There must have been about 15 RBL and RMA standards – we lined the street.

“Kids coming out of school stopped when the cortege came past. We wanted to pay our respects. It’s the least we could do – these men laid down their lives.”

RBL member John Hunt, 81, from Kidlington, who served in the Second World War, added: “Standards were lowered and we stood to attention.

“I don’t think there are enough of these tributes.”

In June more than 500 people lined the streets for a similar tribute after an appeal through the Oxford Mail.