Fallen Dragoon to be repatriated to the UK today

A Norfolk-based Light Dragoon killed in Afghanistan will be repatriated to the UK today at RAF Lyneham. Trooper Phillip Lawrence, 22, was killed on Monday in an explosion whilst travelling in a Scimitar, or Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) [CVR(T)], as part of a patrol in Lashkar Gah district, Helmand province.

A Norfolk-based Light Dragoon killed in Afghanistan will be repatriated to the UK today at RAF Lyneham.

Trooper Phillip Lawrence, 22, was killed on Monday in an explosion whilst travelling in a Scimitar, or Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) [CVR(T)], as part of a patrol in Lashkar Gah district, Helmand province.

He had been helping to ensure the security of an area cleared earlier as part of Operation Panther's Claw, or PANCHAI PALANG.

He had volunteered to step in to drive for another troop to fill a temporary manning gap when his vehicle was hit by an explosion, mortally wounding him. He left behind his wife, Amy, and baby daughter Jessica.

A second soldier, Warrant Officer Class 2 Sean Upton, of the 5th Regiment Royal Artillery, died in separate blasts in Helmand province on the same day. He will also be repatriated today along with Bombardier Craig Hopson, of 40th Regiment Royal Artillery, who died on July 25 in a roadside bomb attack.

Their bodies will be flown into RAF Lyneham, in Wiltshire, where they will be met by family members. A cortege will then take them through the town of Wootton Bassett on their way to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington where post mortems will be carried out.