Bodies of British soldiers flown back to the UK | UK news | guardian.co.uk

 

• Tuesday 29 March 2011 09.39 BST

• Article history

 

RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire. The men's commanding officer said their loss was “a devastating blow”. Photograph: Cpl Steve Blake/PA

The bodies of two British soldiers killed in an explosion in Afghanistan six days before they were due to return home were being flown back to the UK on Tuesday.

Major Matthew Collins, 38, from Backwell in Somerset, and Lance Sergeant Mark Burgan, 28, from Liverpool, were killed last week when their vehicle was caught in a blast from an improvised explosive device.

The men both served with 1st Battalion The Irish Guards.

Their commanding officer said their loss was "a devastating blow" and that "they epitomised what it meant to be a member of this family regiment".

The men were due to arrive into RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire for private ceremonies with their families before a cortege through Wootton Bassett.

Hundreds of people were expected to join their families and members of the Royal British Legion to pay tribute to the soldiers.

The two men were returning to base from an operation aimed at disrupting insurgent groups in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province when they were killed.

On Friday their families paid tribute to their loved ones.

Major Collins's family said: "Not only a soldier but a caring husband, devoted father to Freya and Charlie, caring son, wonderful brother and friend to many. We will all miss him and remember him always."

Lance Sergeant Burgan's wife Leanne said: "I am so honoured to be Mark's wife. I will always love my hero.

"Mark was an extremely proud Irish Guardsman, dad, husband, brother and son. He will forever be in our hearts."

Major Collins was deployed as the commander to a team advising the 3rd Kandak of the UK's partnered Afghan Brigade.

Burgan was the signals detachment commander for the advisory team.

His father said: "Mark was our beloved son. One in a million, proud isn't a good enough word to show how we feel about him."

Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Ghika, commanding officer, 1st Battalion, Irish Guards, said last week: "The loss of Major Matt Collins and Lance Sergeant Mark Burgan … has been a devastating blow to the Irish Guards.

Collins, who also served in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Iraq, was described by colleagues as an "exceptional soldier" who "led from the front".

The deaths took the total number of UK military personnel to have died since operations in Afghanistan began in 2001 to 362