Fusiliers honour their comrades
2 May 06
Soldiers from The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers have been remembering their fallen comrades in a moving ceremony in southern Iraq.
A Fusilier beret and red and white hackle on the memorial plaque erected at the Shatt al Arab Hotel in Basra. The inscription reads: 'In memory of those members of The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers who gave their lives for the freedom of others. Fusilier Kelan Turrington, Fusilier Stephen Robert Manning, Fusilier Donal Anthony Meade, Sergeant John Paul Jones. We will remember them.'
[Picture: Corporal REME]
Around 25 soldiers from the Regiment's 1st and 2nd Battalions gathered at the Shatt al Arab Hotel in Basra to watch the unveiling of a memorial to four former colleagues.
One of those being remembered, Fusilier Kelan Turrington, was killed in action in 2003. The other three, Fusilier Stephen Manning, Fusilier Donal Meade and Sergeant John Jones died in roadside bomb attacks in 2005.
Fus. Turrington, 18, from Cambridge, was killed in action in Iraq on 6 April 2003 while leading an assault on an enemy bunker at the Naval Academy grounds near Basra with his section commander. A signal after his death described him as 'a model Fusilier', despite having been with the Battalion for less than a year.
The Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Lieutenant Colonel Paul Nanson MBE said:
"We thought it was fitting to have a memorial in Iraq to the four soldiers we have lost and the closest secure location we could find to where they were killed is the Shatt al Arab Hotel."
He said the plaque would be removed when British troops left Basra and would eventually find a place of honour at the Regiment’s UK base.
"We thought it was fitting to have a memorial in Iraq to the four soldiers we have lost."
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Nanson MBE
Fus. Manning, 22, from Erith, Kent, and Fus. Meade, 20, from Plumstead, south-east London, were killed on 5 September 2005 by a roadside bomb 9km south west of Basra City.
They were serving with the Coldstream Guards Battle Group as part of C Company 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, providing force protection on an important evidence gathering mission against insurgents in the area.
They were both acting as top cover sentries in the first vehicle of a two vehicle patrol that was hit by a device that had been laid in the central reservation near the town of Az Zubayr, in southern Iraq.
Despite the valiant attempts of the other members of the patrol both men were pronounced dead at the UK Field Hospital at Shaibah Logistics Base.
On 20 November 2005 Sgt Jones, 31, of the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, died as a result of injuries sustained from a roadside bomb in Basra, Iraq.
The Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Lieutenant Colonel Peter Merriman MBE said:
"Our thoughts today are also with those who have been injured while serving in Iraq, and especially Lance Corporal 'Ginger' Dryden of 1 RRF and Lance Corporal Craig Short and Fusilier Aventura Tuila of 2 RRF. We hope for their speedy recovery and look forward to their return to the Regiment and their comrades."