Roadsite tributes near Faringdon to passing fallen soldiers pass 100 mark (From Herald Series)

Roadsite tributes near Faringdon to passing fallen soldiers pass 100 mark

2:53pm Monday 23rd November 2009

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MOST of the time, it is just another drab layby on the A420.

But every time a fallen soldier’s body is driven from RAF Lyneham, in Wiltshire, to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, more than 70 people stand there to pay their respects.

At 2.45pm last Friday, the bodies of Corporal Loren Christopher Marlton-Thomas, 28, from 33 Engineer Regiment, and TA Rifleman Andrew Fentiman, 23, of 7th Battalion The Rifles, passed by the layby, near Faringdon.

As the cortege slowed, drivers pulled over and the standards of local Royal British Legion branches were dipped in salute.

Joy Blake, who organises gatherings of Royal British Legion members and townspeople for each repatriation, said the soldiers were the 100th and 101st to have been saluted at the layby.

The tradition started when three Royal British Legion members realised the hearses would be driven down the A420 and turned out to pay their respects.

Mrs Blake said up to 200 people now came from miles around for each fallen soldier.

John James, 72, who was one of the first three to stand at the layby, said: “I’m absolutely amazed how it has grown.

“It’s very sad that these young men keep coming through. We’d rather not be here, but we have to show respect.

“As long as there are servicemen coming through from RAF Lyneham, we will always be here.”

Laura Stayt, 28, of Faringdon, whose partner, David Cook, is a staff sergeant with 6 Battalion REME, said: “I feel that I should do this because if it was the other way round, I’d want people to turn out for him. It is a very small amount of time to give up.”

Geoff Watson, 62, of Bampton, who served in the RAF for 26 years, said: “It does upset me, but I would hope that in the past, somebody would have turned out for me.”

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