With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Laurence Binyon
Just before 8 tonight, as the sun sets over the small Wiltshire market town of Wootton Bassett in the West of England, the Union Flag will be taken from the town's flagpole for the last time. Over the past four years it has been lowered in respect as the town has paid tribute to the fallen of the British armed forces as their coffins passed. The town will no longer be hosting the grieving families. The quiet dignified ceremony that grew spontaneously to honor the dead will not be held there again.
The ceremonies at Wootton Bassett started four years ago when the nearby RAF Lyneham became the base receiving repatriation flights.
The move there was not without controversy. Until after the Falklands War, British war dead were always buried in cemetaries established near to where they had been killed. The Falkland Islands are so isolated that some of the families of the dead there pressed for their bodies to be brought home to avoid the very long and arduous flights to visit the graves.
A formal "repatriation ceremony" was devised by the Armed Forces. Bodies were returned to the UK by air and the flag draped coffins taken individually from the plane to the sound of a military band playing. If there are several dead, they come in order of military precedence. That means that the Navy personnel are first, followed by the Army and Air Force in descending order of military rank. That could result in a lowest rank sailor or marine being taken off before a very senior army officer. Each coffin is put in a hearse and driven away before the next emerges.
Until four years ago English law required that the coroner for the area where those killed overseas first landed should hold an inquest. The bodies are therefore taken from the air base to a mortuary under his control and released to the family from there.
At that time they were flown into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire in central England. With the number of dead from both Iraq and Afghanistan, the Oxford coroner had built up a backlog of 85 cases by May 2002. The Oxford coroner, who also held the inquest into Dr David Kelly, was becoming a bit too keen to fully investigate the details of some of the "blue on blue" deaths for the Blair government's liking.
As a result, the incoming flights were moved to RAF Lyneham and changes made to the rules. The Wiltshire coroner would deal with cases of multiple deaths in the same incident. He would also decide on the location of the inquests into single deaths. That could be the coroner for the area nearest the deceased's home or their final resting place. Lyneham was not popular a choice because of the much longer distances relatives from, say, Scotland, would have to travel to greet the dead when they returned - indeed travel from most of the major cities in England was either further or more difficult than to Brize Norton. A more serious objection was the loss of expertise in dealing with service deaths:
Geraldine McCool, the solicitor who represented the family of Matty Hull, who was killed near Basra in March 2003 when a US pilot fired on his tank convoy, said she was "appalled" to learn of the decision.
"We have at least got now established in Oxford a centre of excellence for army deaths - and to hear that that is going to change for no good reason whatsoever is very disturbing," she told the BBC.
She added that spreading the workload around the country looked "initially quite attractive" but was actually "foolhardy"
The first flights into Lyneham were in April 2007. Members of the Royal Britsh Legion in Wootton Bassett noticed that the cortege from Lyneham to the hospital where the mortuary was had to pass through the town. (The British Legion is the welfare organization for current and past service personnel and their families). They decided to salute the coffins as they went past by draping their Legion flag. Members of the public joined them and the gatherings grew. Motorcycle riding members of the British Legion from all over the country now go to help with the crowds and welcome members of the dead's family. A local pub makes a room available for them with refreshments and somewhere quiet for them to wait. The air base liaises with the townsfolk to give them an idea of the timetable so the shops can shut out of respect. As you will see from the video above, the busy town falls silent except for the tolling of the local church bells. Representatives from a number of other branches of the British Legion bring their colors to be lowered to show respect.
Cuts in military spending mean that RAF Lyneham is to close next month. The last of 345 service personnel to be repatriated through there was Lt Daniel Clack on August 18. The 24 year old was killed by an IED while on foot patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Incoming flights are to return to RAF Brize Norton. The first will likely be next week carrying the body of a Royal Marine from 42 Commando batallion who was also killed in an explosion in Helmand province. At the time of writing his name has not been released.
When the Union flag is lowered for the last time in Wootton Bassett this evening, it will be taken to the local parish church to rest on the high altar. Tomorrow the Mayor and others from the town will take it to RAF Brize Norton where it will be flown in a memorial garden. A town nearby, Carterton, has established a special area where grieving families can come together to pay respects as their loved ones pass by. I suspect though that these deliberate arrangements will loose some of the poignancy that the gatherings at Wootton Bassett have had because of the spontaneous way they grew.
The town is being rewarded for the sense of duty it has shown in honoring the dead and for the way it has come to symbolize the respect of the nation for them. As it returns to its former life as a small if busy market town, it will have a rare honor. This is in the gift of the monarch and next month the town will be renamed "Royal Wootton Bassett". I quoted the opening verse of a poem at the start of the diary, so to honor those in the British Legion who first decided to pay their respects in Wootton Bassett, what better than the verse they use as part of their Remembrance services.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.