Widows Quest

Thoughts on the loss of a soldiers life…

by anna on July 7th, 2007

I wish, as a world that we could find peace, find a way of living together rather than dying together. Death is always painful but for me, death through war seems wrong. My heart aches when I read about the widows of soldiers and cannot imagine their feelings. As civilians that benefit from others giving their lives for our safety we should never lose our gratitude, our  memories of how these brave people gave their lives for ours.

To bring this home - yesterday, the BBC wrote about the latest funeral

The widow and the two sons of a “great soldier” killed by mortar fire in Iraq led more than 800 mourners at his military funeral in Hampshire.

Maj Paul Harding, of the 4th Battalion The Rifles, was killed less than a month after he was deployed to Basra.

His widow Paula, and sons Christopher, 19, and Jake, 17, led the funeral procession at Winchester Cathedral.

He was so strong, so strong, I thought he was invincible Paula Harding, widow

The service on Friday included a eulogy by colleague and friend, former Maj Nick Haddock, who spoke of Maj Harding’s “selfless” devotion to both his family and to his duty.

He said: “With a gentle manner and a disarming honesty, he touched so many lives and he died where he was always to be found, leading from the front.”

On the night before the Army commander died, he placed himself in the centre’s most exposed fortified position to help secure the route in for a re-supply convoy from the Basra Palace base.

The 48-year-old was hit by a mortar round and died instantly on 20 June.

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POSTED IN: Building Memorials