RAF Brize Norton centre hosts first repatriation

 

Corteges will leave a purpose-built £2.8m repatriation centre at RAF Brize Norton

RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire will host its first military repatriation later when the body of a Berkshire royal marine is returned to the UK.

Sgt Barry Weston, from Reading and of Plymouth-based 42 Commando, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
His body will be the first to arrive at the £2.8m purpose built centre, near Carterton, since repatriations were moved from RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.
The cortege will pass a new memorial garden on the outskirts of the town.
Father-of-three Sgt Weston, 40, died on a foot patrol in Sukmanda in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province in August.
Special journey Previously repatriations arriving at RAF Lyneham passed through the streets of Wootton Bassett where residents would line the streets.
Corteges leaving Brize Norton will pass through the newly named Britannia Gate at the base but will avoid the town centre of Carterton.
Concerns have been raised by soldiers' relatives over the level of support that will be shown at the memorial garden, which is a 15 minute walk from the town centre, because people would have to make a special journey there to pay their respects.
Maj John Thorneloe, whose son Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe was repatriated to RAF Lyneham in 2009, said: "It's one thing for people to turn out in the streets of a town and welcome those coming home, but it's another thing for people to drive into an open space, decide where to park their cars and do it as though it wasn't an involuntary thing."
The bodies of 345 services personnel have passed through Wootton Bassett over the past four years.