Bodies of UK soldiers are repatriated

Описание: (31 Aug 2003)
1. Coffin being carried from helicopter, across tarmac to plane
2. Various shots of coffin being carried into back of plane
3. Wide shot, soldiers and plane UPSOUND: Last Post
4. British flag at half mast
5. Soldiers marching into formation
6. Priest delivering service
7. Various of coffins being carried from helicopter, across tarmac to plane
8. Various shots of coffin being carried into back of plane
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Captain Hisham Halawi, British Army:
"We just had a repatriation ceremony as a chance for us to say our farewell to fallen comrades who gave their lives in the cause of bringing stability and freedom to Iraq, a country that has been misruled by Saddam and his regime for the past 35 years."
10. Doors of the plane slowly close

STORYLINE:

The bodies of four British servicemen began their final journey back home from Iraq on Sunday with a dusk ceremony at Basra International Airport.

Their coffins were flown from a hospital in Basra to the airport and then ceremoniously carried into the back of a plane.

About a thousand soldiers attended, some from Italy and Denmark.

The plane took off from Basra at 8:30pm local time (1630 GMT).

Three of the dead were members of the Royal Military Police who were killed in an ambush in Basra on 23 August as they drove through a main street in Basra in an armed convoy of two vehicles.

The British Ministry of Defence described them as Major Matthew Titchener, 32, and Warrant Officer Colin Wall, 34, both of 150 Provost Company, and Corporal Dewi Pritchard, 35, of 116 Provost Company.

Major Titchener was married with one child. Warrant Officer Wall was married with three children, and Corporal Pritchard was married and a member of the Territorial Army (the British volunteer force).

All three men were serving with the 19 Mechanised Brigade.

The fourth soldier was killed when gunmen opened fire on a British convoy trapped between two angry crowds in Basra on 28 August.

The slain soldier was in a convoy of vehicles returning from an arrest operation when they were caught between two groups as it returned to base.

The soldiers fired two warning shots to try to disperse the Iraqis when gunmen opened fire with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

The toll of British service personnel who have died in Iraq has climbed to 50, 11 of them since the US President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat on 1 May.

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