This sombre picture from the UK Ministry of Defence News Service shows some of the price the United Kingdom has been paying lately for its committment to the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
From July 9-10, eight British Army soldiers were killed in Afghanistan and their bodies arrived in the UK at RAF base Lyneham yesterday, July 14. The British have, as they say, been taking a lot of stick for their aggressive operations in Afghanistan of late, and their losses include a battalion commander of the Welsh Guards, Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thornloe, killed in his vehicle by an IED. The head of the British Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, had this to say:
“I can say to them that my heart goes out to them in their grief at this time but they should take great comfort from the fact that their loved ones have lost their lives in carrying out a mission that is really important.
“It’s really important not just for Afghanistan or for this region, it’s really important for the overall security of the West and for the United Kingdom. And we must get this right, we will get this right. So they have lost their lives in something that is really important, and they should take great comfort from that.”
Read the whole article here.
Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and may light perpetual shine upon them.