AS THE cortege carrying Private Matthew Thornton’s coffin drew away from Carterton’s memorial garden, his family thanked the hundreds of people who had turned out to pay their respects.

Pte Thornton, 28, pictured right, of 4th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment was repatriated yesterday after being killed in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

After being flown into RAF Brize Norton he was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford via Carterton, where some 400 people lined Norton Way.

They fell silent as it pulled up in front of the memorial garden for a few minutes before continuing its journey, when they began applauding.

Pte Thornton’s father Michael then addressed the mourners and said: “Thank you.”

Sue Trinder, 39, from Bracken Close, had come to pay her respects with her four-year-old daughter Emma. She said: “It makes it much more real to see the family over there. As a mother I wouldn’t want to go through it.

“It is hard to explain to my daughter just in words so if she sees it first hand she can understand what goes on in real life.”

John Bowler, 79, from Clanfield, served in the Welch Regiment in Korea.

He said: “I regarded all my men as my own family, my own children. When they were killed it made me very angry.

“I have a great respect for those soldiers who have lost their lives.”