Lest we forget: Three more heroes return in coffins from the war our party leaders 'forgot' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-127473

By Ian Drury
Last updated at 11:18 PM on 7th May 2010

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It was hard to ignore the squabbling, squealing and scrabbling for power in Westminster yesterday.

In Wootton Bassett, they managed it with dignified silence.

And as hundreds of people gathered in the town to pay tribute to three young men who gave their lives for their country, that silence suddenly spoke loudest of all.
Hero: Comrades of Lance Corporal Barry Buxton, 27, of 21 Engineer Regiment, carry his coffin as his body was repatriated to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire

Hero: Comrades of Lance Corporal Barry Buxton, 27, of 21 Engineer Regiment, carry his coffin as his body was repatriated to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire

Silent tribute: Mourners bowed their heads as the hearses carrying the coffins of Sapper Daryn Roy, Lance Corporal Barry Buxton and Corporal Harvey Holmes passed through the town of Wootton Bassett

Silent tribute: Mourners bowed their heads as the hearses carrying the coffins of Sapper Daryn Roy, Lance Corporal Barry Buxton and Corporal Harvey Holmes passed through the town of Wootton Bassett

Corporal Harvey Holmes, Lance Corporal Barry Buxton and Sapper Daryn Roy, all killed in Afghanistan, were brought home to their families yesterday.

Their bodies were flown from the frontline to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire for a private ceremony before their Union Flag-draped coffins were driven through Wootton Bassett.

Last night grieving families and military commanders accused the party leaders of barely mentioning the Armed Forces and the war against the Taliban during the election campaign.

Relatives said they had swept the nine-year conflict under the carpet.

L/Cpl Buxton, 27, from Stoke- on-Trent, who served with 21 Engineer Regiment, died on Monday when a road collapsed and the vehicle he was commanding rolled into a canal.

His wife Emma described him as her 'knight in shining armour'. Spr Roy, 28, from Consett, County Durham, a 'happy-go-lucky' comrade from the same regiment, was killed on the same day when a roadside bomb exploded near Nad'e Ali in Helmand Province.
Corporal Harvey Alex Holmes
Daryn Roy
Barry Buxton

Lost heroes: The bodies of Corporal Harvey Holmes, Sapper Daryn Roy and L/Cpl Barry Buxton returned to the UK yesterday
Emma Buxton (centre, facing), wife of Lance Corporal Barry Buxton
In mourning: Emma Buxton (left), wife of Lance Corporal Barry Buxton and Claire Nugent, fiancee of Harvey Holmes

In mourning: Emma Buxton (left), wife of Lance Corporal Barry Buxton and Claire Nugent, fiancee of Harvey Holmes who were both killed in Afghanistan

Cpl Harvey Holmes, 22, from Hyde, Greater Manchester, of the 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire), died in an explosion in Sangin while on foot patrol last Sunday.

As on more than 100 occasions since the Afghanistan conflict began, Wootton Bassett came to a standstill to mark the soldiers' final journey.

Mourners threw red, yellow and orange roses on to the hearses as they passed slowly by before stopping for two minutes' silence at the town's war memorial.

In the midst of grief, there was a strong feeling that politicians had refused to confront the human cost of the military mission.

Sapper Roy's tearful girlfriend Cheryl Edgar said more heroes return in our party leaders 'forgot'

British soldiers had been 'absolutely' forgotten by politicians during the month-long election campaign.
Family and friends of Sapper Daryn Roy weep as his coffin passes through the 'Highway for Heroes' after the repatriation ceremony

Tears: Family and friends of Sapper Daryn Roy weep as his coffin is driven down the 'Highway for Heroes' after the repatriation ceremony

Standstill: Wootton Bassett stopped to pay its respects to the three soldiers in what has become a regular event in the town

Standstill: Wootton Bassett stopped to pay its respects to the three soldiers in what has become a regular event in the town

Pauline Nugent, the mother of Cpl Holmes's devastated fiancee Claire, said: 'Politicians themselves haven't seemed to mention the war.

'They were all taken up with the election and trying to get votes instead of addressing real issues. I think they just downplayed it - particularly Labour.'

Cpl Holmes's best friend Paul Burgess, 29, from Manchester, said: 'It has been kept low key. The war is bad news and the voters are getting more and more discontented with it.

'The politicians don't want to remind people that soldiers are being killed in action. It's no good for your party or getting into power.'

Colonel Richard Kemp, who was Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan in 2003, said: 'I was disappointed by the lack of emphasis on Afghanistan during the campaign, and the thinness of discussion of defence in the leaders' debate.'

He added: 'Our war effort in Afghanistan must remain a top priority even in the face of efforts needed to hold together a minority government.

'Whatever political compromises are needed, while our troops are fighting and dying we cannot afford to have divisions on the war strategy.'
Grief: Cheryl Edgar (front, second left)), the girlfriend of Sapper Daryn Roy, and other mourners break down as army vetarans salute the procession

Grief: Cheryl Edgar (front, second left)), the girlfriend of Sapper Daryn Roy, and other mourners break down as army vetarans salute the procession

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Brave lads. Politicians please read "Tommy" by Rudyard Kipling.

- Mike, Lancs, England, 07/5/2010 19:38
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It's touching how the people of Wooton Bassett come out to pay their respects to our fallen heros and especially how the army veterans also come to salute them. It's just a shame this had to happen in the first place, we should have never got involved with America's war!

RIP

- Cazza, Scotland, 07/5/2010 19:37
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The war criminals who sent them there have just had millions of people vote for them.

Unbelievable

- Sad4UK, UK, 07/5/2010 19:32
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are you watching Gordon and the rest of you warmongering idiots who vote for labour?

- stuart, Alicante, Spain, 07/5/2010 19:29
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FORCES-
"Whether active duty, retired,territorial army or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "Great Britain", for an amount of "up to and including my life". That is HONOR, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it." -Author Unknown

- pete taylor, liskeard cornwall, 07/5/2010 19:25

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1274739/Tearful-tributes-fallen-heroes-brought-home-Afghanistan.html#ixzz0nIoeUu4G