0:00:03 > 0:00:08On Remembrance Sunday 2010, in a tiny village in Northern Ireland,
0:00:08 > 0:00:12a family with a loved one serving in Afghanistan received the news it dreaded.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18Words can't say how you feel. Sure you can't.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23It's literally a part...
0:00:23 > 0:00:28of your body that's been ripped apart.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32It's been taken from you, you'll never get it back.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37Hundreds of miles away in England,
0:00:37 > 0:00:42a simple market town reacted to the same news by quietly making preparations.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49For more than four years, Wootton Bassett paid silent tribute
0:00:49 > 0:00:53as the coffins of fallen servicemen and women came through the town
0:00:53 > 0:00:57from nearby RAF Lyneham, en route to their final resting place.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01TV: 'People watching this will be thinking, "This could be my son.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03'"This could be a member of my family..."'
0:01:03 > 0:01:06Images of the tribute became a staple of the evening news,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09but barely touched on the enormity of what took place.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14'..almost weekly basis, the streets fall silent as coffins are driven slowly along the high street...'
0:01:14 > 0:01:18This film tells the story of how the people of a town,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21some with their own memories of loss, reached out to support
0:01:21 > 0:01:25a family who were facing the darkest moment of their life.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34The two came together on a cold Friday in November to remember and honour,
0:01:34 > 0:01:39not just a soldier, but a son, brother and friend.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48NEWSREADER: 'A soldier from County Londonderry has been killed in Afghanistan's Helmand province.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52'The 20-year-old, serving with the Royal Irish Regiment, died
0:01:52 > 0:01:54'in a booby-trap bomb blast earlier today.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58'The Ministry of Defence is yet to release his name. His family has been told.'
0:02:14 > 0:02:19Remembrance Sunday, it was. We were in Tunisia on holiday.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24And as soon as we walked into the hotel,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26the girl behind reception said, "We've had a lot of
0:02:26 > 0:02:29"phone calls from a girl named Tammy."
0:02:30 > 0:02:34We ran up to the hotel room. I had about
0:02:34 > 0:02:3750 missed calls on my phone, yours was the same.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39I had the same. I had the same.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41And...we phoned home.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43And it was Tammy on the phone.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50And I said, "I know. You don't have to tell me, I know.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52"But I still have to hear it."
0:02:54 > 0:02:56And she told me.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02Our world had just fell apart.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11We were on the phone, and I answered it. I was like, "Hi!"
0:03:11 > 0:03:15And she just said, "He's been killed."
0:03:15 > 0:03:18There was no way of saying it to me.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20And I just remember crying and saying,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23"No, no, it's not true, it's not true."
0:03:25 > 0:03:27I was just...froze.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33The...the... This is a nightmare, please let this be a nightmare.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35I just want to wake up right now.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38But it wasn't to be.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46REPORTER: 'This is a village in deep shock and mourning.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50'The soldier's name was only released by the Ministry of Defence in the last half hour.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54'He was 22-year-old Aaron McCormick from here in Macosquin village.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58'He was a Royal Irish Regiment soldier and he was serving in Afghanistan.
0:03:58 > 0:04:04'He and his family are very well known in Macosquin village.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08'His mother is very well known for raising money for the armed forces.'
0:04:08 > 0:04:11'..stand shoulder to shoulder to show solidarity with the family
0:04:11 > 0:04:18'as they endure what for them must be the unendurable. The pain and suffering...'
0:04:18 > 0:04:24'..in paying tribute to Ranger Aaron McCormick, of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26who died on Remembrance Sunday.
0:04:26 > 0:04:32His commanding officer has described him as the epitome of the Irish Infantry soldier -
0:04:32 > 0:04:35tough, selfless, good-humoured and full of compassion.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37He showed astonishing bravery...
0:04:37 > 0:04:40- REPORTER:- 'MoD officials visited the family this afternoon.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45'It is still unclear when his body will be brought back to village he lived and grew up in.'
0:04:51 > 0:04:56All we ever knew about Wootton Bassett was the wee bit you see in the news.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59We'd never heard of it before.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Sure we hadn't. And then you start watching the news
0:05:03 > 0:05:08when you hear that there's someone being brought home.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12And you see them going through the town, the family in pieces.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18You know. And you do feel for them.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23You can only imagine at the time what they're going through.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27But you're thankful your son's fine.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30And it's just a natural reaction.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35I'm sorry if I'm offending anybody, but it is a natural reaction,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38you're thankful your son's fine.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41So...
0:05:41 > 0:05:47Never dreaming that some day, the knock might come to your door.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00REPORTER: 'The town of Wootton Bassett has become famous
0:06:00 > 0:06:04'throughout the country and also abroad for the saddest of reasons.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07'Every time the bodies of British service personnel are flown home,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10'many of the townspeople pay their respects...'
0:06:10 > 0:06:14'..famous for the respect it shows to the soldiers who have lost their lives in conflict.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17'On an almost weekly basis, the streets fall silent
0:06:17 > 0:06:21'as the coffins are driven along the high street from RAF Lyneham.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25'It started with a group of old soldiers in their berets, blazers and medals,
0:06:25 > 0:06:32'showing the young men who follow in their bootsteps that they understood the sacrifice they've made.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36'Since then, this one-street market town in Wiltshire has grown
0:06:36 > 0:06:40'to symbolise a nation's gratitude, its respect, its grief.'
0:06:47 > 0:06:51WOMAN: Good afternoon, Wootton Bassett Town Council.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Yes, it's approximately three o'clock.
0:06:57 > 0:07:04You might have a problem parking in the high street, but if you do, there's a large car park...
0:07:04 > 0:07:08I must say, people do usually come smart dressed.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11But something probably warm, because, you know...
0:07:11 > 0:07:13'It actually started...'
0:07:13 > 0:07:18I think some colleagues in the Royal British Legion
0:07:18 > 0:07:21were buying their newspaper,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25the hearse went by, as the coffin had a Union Jack on it,
0:07:25 > 0:07:30they obviously realised it was an ex-service person.
0:07:32 > 0:07:40We decided we ought to pay our respects with dignity and respect as they pass by.
0:07:42 > 0:07:48We just thought it would be us little group. We had no restrictions on how many people came.
0:07:48 > 0:07:55If whoever wanted to join us and show their...sympathy
0:07:55 > 0:07:59and pay their respects... they were welcome.
0:08:02 > 0:08:08The repatriation on Friday, and he's 1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Friday the 19th at 3.15.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Just ringing to let you know
0:08:15 > 0:08:19there's another repatriation on Friday at 3pm.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Thanks, Ron.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26It's terribly to feel isolated and lonely
0:08:26 > 0:08:30in what is probably the worst situation the mum, dad, brother,
0:08:30 > 0:08:36sisters, relatives and even their own pals are facing at that time,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39and I believe that it helps,
0:08:39 > 0:08:44I genuinely feel it helps for them to know
0:08:44 > 0:08:48that they've got the public grieving with them.
0:08:48 > 0:08:54So, it's...3.15 on Friday. OK, Ann.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59REPORTER: 'This is an ordinary English town that has become remarkable for one thing -
0:08:59 > 0:09:02'the way it pays tribute to the fallen.
0:09:02 > 0:09:08'Today, thousands turn out to honour the dead as their bodies are returned to British soil.'
0:09:17 > 0:09:22'The Royal Irish Regiment soldier killed in Afghanistan yesterday was Aaron McCormick.
0:09:22 > 0:09:28'The 22-year-old from Macosquin in County Londonderry was on foot patrol in Helmand province...'
0:09:28 > 0:09:32- MAN:- 'I've just come back from seeing the family, who arrived home from holiday this morning.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36'They are obviously completely devastated. They have...'
0:09:36 > 0:09:40I heard them coming through the door and I started to panic. "What do I say to them?"
0:09:40 > 0:09:43You just don't know what to say to your mummy and daddy
0:09:43 > 0:09:45when something like that happens.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48So, I just kept making tea, and they put their suitcases in,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52and Mummy just came straight over and hugged me.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Mummy and Daddy just walked in the door.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57It was like, phew, it was like this big weight had been lifted,
0:09:57 > 0:09:59they kind of... and I was all smiles,
0:09:59 > 0:10:01happy to see them, the weirdest feeling.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04I just run over and said, "Oh, thank God you're home!"
0:10:04 > 0:10:06And I went hugging them, and Mummy was like...
0:10:06 > 0:10:10I think Mummy said something, "What do we do here? What...?"
0:10:10 > 0:10:14She said something really weird, "What do we do now?"
0:10:14 > 0:10:18For the next three days I didn't eat,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22didn't sleep much, I just could not...could not eat.
0:10:22 > 0:10:29And my mum had to force me down, saying," Michael, get that bacon sandwich in you. You need it."
0:10:29 > 0:10:31And it did me the world of good.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37We had to put on the big, brave face - Mummy and Daddy's all right.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39You know, even though we weren't.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47But... They might be grown-ups, but they're still our children.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53And we had to look after them.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57And then we had to do our best for Aaron too,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59we had to get him home.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05And that's all we wanted, was him home.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13REPORTER: 'Wootton Bassett will fall silent later
0:11:13 > 0:11:16'as the body of another soldier is repatriated through the town.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20'Ranger Aaron McCormick from the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment
0:11:20 > 0:11:23'was killed by an explosion on Remembrance Sunday.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28'He'd been helping to clear an area of improvised bombs during a security patrol in Nad-e Ali.'
0:11:28 > 0:11:35Father, today our minds as a town turn again to the liturgy of repatriation.
0:11:35 > 0:11:41We pray for all those who are affected by war, conflict and violence.
0:11:41 > 0:11:48We pray particularly, Father, for those who will gather on the high street, at RAF Lyneham,
0:11:48 > 0:11:53and on that route to the John Radcliffe Hospital.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28It's a very strange day. It's a reflective day, I guess, really.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31You know, you think about your family
0:12:31 > 0:12:36and how on earth you would be coping with something like this today.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40Cos, I mean, they're basically an unknown soldier to you, aren't they, really?
0:12:40 > 0:12:45But it's...but it is somebody's son, brother, husband.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49You'll see people go by with flowers and things
0:12:49 > 0:12:55and then you start to wonder, you know, what relationship to the family that they are.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59Cos some are here hours, absolutely hours,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02and it must be the longest day, it really must be the longest day
0:13:02 > 0:13:05when they're waiting for them to come through.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14MAN: Down to the end, take a right.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Nice to make it, thank you, mate.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27I think for the first six months,
0:13:27 > 0:13:32a lot thought we were accidentally in the high street on a bike run
0:13:32 > 0:13:35when the repat happened to come by.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39They saw the bikes, they saw what we looked like and stood well back.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43And many comments were heard of, "Oh, what are they doing here?
0:13:43 > 0:13:47"Have they no respect? Have they nowhere else to be?"
0:13:47 > 0:13:52And it wasn't until we'd been here for, I'd say, six months and we'd educated a few people
0:13:52 > 0:13:58that they actually decided that we weren't the monsters that they thought we were
0:13:58 > 0:14:01and we were actually veterans paying our respect.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Ten of us with all our bikes makes it look very busy there.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10You put 20 bikes with 20 bikers, it looks even busier.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13And on days when there's not many friends and family in the street,
0:14:13 > 0:14:17we make it look quite busy for the families when they arrive from Lyneham.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21And that's quite comforting to them to know there's lots of people here.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33OK, first of all, today we're repatriating one soldier, Ranger Aaron McCormick,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37the 1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment. You've all done this before,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40so I'll make the briefing as brief as possible.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44The search phase of the operation's already commenced at 1200 hours today
0:14:44 > 0:14:48and we've got search dogs and officers in the town at the moment.
0:14:48 > 0:14:54OVER RADIO: 'Search of high street complete. Moving south to Wood Street, then we'll repeat, over.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58I think I may be of help to you.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Hi, I'm Steve. I'm with the Royal British Legion,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04- I'm their repatriation liaison officer.- Hello.- Hello.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06So, that's who I am.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09- Are you direct family?- Yeah. - Best friends.- Best friends.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11I'm really sorry to meet you here.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14You want to be stood there, so that's where I'll take the family.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18- There won't be a massive amount if you've travelled from Northern Ireland.- No.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20That's where I'll put the family.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24You be where they are, but there's no need to go out there till about 2.50.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27That's all you need, don't worry about anything else.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29See the Cross Keys, it's free tea and coffee,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33I know it doesn't taste that good, but it's free.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38I know, eight sugars in black coffee and it doesn't matter what it tastes like.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48It's only a few sandwiches and a cup of tea or coffee,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52but it helps the families and it saves them worrying about
0:15:52 > 0:15:55getting something to eat, and it's all here ready for them.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58Especially when they travel from so far,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01and a lot of them bring lots of flowers,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04which they obviously put on the hearse
0:16:04 > 0:16:08when it does its little pause for a few minutes,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11so we always take the flowers off them and look after them in here,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14till it's time for them to go outside.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23It's just a bit of kindness and human nature to, you know,
0:16:23 > 0:16:25do what you can to help other people.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31NEWSREADER: 'Here in Wootton Bassett, they measure the loss of life
0:16:31 > 0:16:33'every time a coffin comes along the high street.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36'Politicians talk about policy in Afghanistan
0:16:36 > 0:16:39'and military leaders talk about strategy.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44'Here in Wootton Bassett, all they're talking about is the people affected.'
0:16:49 > 0:16:54Ever since he was three or four, it was the Air Force he wanted to join.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59And it was only when he come 16...
0:17:00 > 0:17:04..he just changed, he wanted to go into the Army then.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08I don't know what changed his mind.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11It was just one day, it's the Army, and that was it.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15And you couldn't have talked him out of it. He was...
0:17:15 > 0:17:19He was headstrong. Once he'd get something in his head, that was...
0:17:19 > 0:17:22You couldn't have changed his mind.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28He wanted to do something with his life.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31It was also to keep up the family tradition,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34because Royal Irish, there's always been a McCormick,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38I think Aaron just wanted to keep that family end up.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41I was the fourth one in my family to join the Army.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47- Uncles was in the Air Force, Army.- The Navy.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49The Navy.
0:17:49 > 0:17:55- So, it sort of has a background. - My grandfather was in the Army.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59He was killed during the war, and Aaron knew all this as well.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06He just wanted the military life. Aaron liked everything to be...
0:18:06 > 0:18:11- Like prim and proper, in the right...- Proper and precise. - ..in the right order.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15You know, everything had to be in its place.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20That's the way he liked things.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22And the Army life suited him.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26I didn't think he'd do it. I didn't think he'd leave home in general.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30I didn't think he'd leave Mummy and Daddy and his friends.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Then he had the application form and he'd done it, that was it. He just seemed...
0:18:34 > 0:18:38he just seemed to do it overnight, he was in the Army and that was it, he was away.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41He went, this wee young boy, tootling off to the Army,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45and hadn't a clue what was in front of him, just hadn't a notion.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52I wasn't against him joining, cos I knew he'd do it anyway,
0:18:52 > 0:18:56so we backed him up all we could.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03I knew certainly he'd be there in Iraq or Afghanistan.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Mm-hm. Didn't bother him.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Like water off a duck's back, it didn't bother him.
0:19:09 > 0:19:10Didn't faze him.
0:19:12 > 0:19:13No, it didn't.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20Don't get us wrong - we wanted him home, but...
0:19:20 > 0:19:22you know, you have to let them go.
0:19:22 > 0:19:29- And as long as he was happy doing what he wanted, we were happy. - We were happy.- Yeah, we were.
0:19:32 > 0:19:38Saying bye-bye to him at the airport that first time going,
0:19:38 > 0:19:43knowing that he was going back to England to head over there,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45that was very hard.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49You know, you don't know if it's going to be the last time you see them.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51But he was excited.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55I suppose any young chap joining the Army's excited.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Aaron, I would say, no more so than the next bloke.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04The same with myself when I joined - the first day you go, you're excited.
0:20:04 > 0:20:10You don't know what to expect, stuff like that there.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13But certainly he was thrilled and...
0:20:13 > 0:20:17was looking forward to it, so he was.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20I wasn't.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24He was the last one left at home.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31NEWSREADER: 'The timing of Ranger Aaron McCormick's death was all the more tragic.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34'He was killed on Remembrance Sunday.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39'The 22-year-old soldier died in an explosion in the Nad-e Ali area of Helmand province
0:20:39 > 0:20:42'where he was helping to clear roadside bombs.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44'He joined the Army nearly three years ago.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48'It was his second time in Afghanistan...'
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Whenever there's a repatriation,
0:20:50 > 0:20:55I like to find out a bit more about the soldier and about his family.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59So, it's not just a face, it becomes a person to me.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04My heart just goes out to another family because I've been there,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07I've felt it, and I know what it feels like,
0:21:07 > 0:21:11and you wouldn't wish that on your worst enemy.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16For any family to go through the loss of a loved one is...
0:21:17 > 0:21:21..the most traumatic thing I've ever been through.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24And I do, I wake up with that sort of...
0:21:24 > 0:21:29almost as if somebody's sort of squeezing my insides again.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39It's not natural for any parent to have to bury a child...
0:21:41 > 0:21:44..and...especially a mother.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48I bore that child, I nurtured him, I fed him,
0:21:48 > 0:21:50I raised him.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55It's like having part of you... It just leaves a void.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02BUGLER PLAYS "LAST POST"
0:22:22 > 0:22:28It's like standing on the side of a huge cliff...
0:22:30 > 0:22:32..and you just get vertigo.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36And all you can see is darkness and...
0:22:40 > 0:22:45And this is what I feel, this is why I feel such empathy for other mums
0:22:45 > 0:22:48that have gone through what I've gone through, because it's...
0:22:48 > 0:22:53it's not an easy place to be, it's really not an easy place to be.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56It's very hard. Very hard.
0:23:00 > 0:23:06Every repatriation is a tug at the heartstrings and...
0:23:08 > 0:23:10..a visit back...
0:23:13 > 0:23:18But for me, on the day, it's about the family,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21what they're going through.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Yeah, my love goes out to them, to all of them,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31being one of the band of mothers out there,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35stand together and support and love each other.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37That's all we can do.
0:23:42 > 0:23:43GUNFIRE
0:23:51 > 0:23:52CONFUSED SHOUTING
0:24:01 > 0:24:04INDISTINCT DIALOGUE
0:24:13 > 0:24:18When Aaron came home from his first tour, the first couple of weeks he wasn't himself,
0:24:18 > 0:24:24but that's understandable, what he must have went through, seen and done.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28He just wasn't quite himself.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35He was a wee bit more quieter, into himself. He would have kept things to himself.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38Because he used to tell me everything
0:24:38 > 0:24:41and then, once he went there and came back...
0:24:41 > 0:24:44I think I asked him what it was like and what did he see,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47and he just wouldn't tell me any of it.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50He sure didn't. And you could tell it scared him.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55I could see it in his eyes, it shook him up.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58Seeing soldiers getting injured,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01just all that kind of gory stuff.
0:25:01 > 0:25:07Just in the look of your eyes, you can tell he's been through hell.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12He just sat in the living room, didn't want to speak.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Not as normal, normally he was chattering away
0:25:14 > 0:25:17and slabbering away about this, that and the other.
0:25:17 > 0:25:23And he'd just be lying out on the sofa, didn't want to do nothing, didn't want to do anything.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28He just wanted to lie there. And he drank, he drunk like you wouldn't believe.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32It was just weird to watch him, kind of thing, so it was. It was strange.
0:25:34 > 0:25:40- It wasn't the young boy Aaron, coming home.- He was a changed boy.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44- Like, he went from boyhood to manhood in six months.- Mm-hm.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48It had changed him.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06Shortly after he came back from his first tour, he had met Becky,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10and he came home and told us all about her, and she was English.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12So we thought, ooh, she lives in England,
0:26:12 > 0:26:16so we don't know, we're not too sure if it'll last, or...
0:26:16 > 0:26:19But then we got the phone call to say he wanted to bring her home,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22so we knew it was serious the minute he wanted to bring her home.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25He'd never brought girlfriends home for us to meet.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28And the minute we met her, that was it.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31We were just... She was just part of the family.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34Everybody loved her. She was just that lively and outgoing and bubbly,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37just like the rest of us.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40We're just that loud, and she's the exact same.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42She just fitted in perfect.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49He told me he was doing security work, then he let slip...
0:26:49 > 0:26:54He was talking about handling a gun, and that sort of...
0:26:54 > 0:26:56There were little things that were cropping up
0:26:56 > 0:27:00that didn't add up to being a security guard.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03So. then he had to say, "No, I'm actually in the Army."
0:27:03 > 0:27:05He told me he would be going to Afghanistan.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09And I think that was sort of... let her know from the beginning,
0:27:09 > 0:27:11so it wouldn't be an issue.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16But I think you worry, but it was more of...
0:27:16 > 0:27:20It was admiration, it was a brave job to be doing.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25It didn't make me want to step back and think, oh, I don't want to be involved in this.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30It was just, it was his job, he did that, he'd be there doing his training
0:27:30 > 0:27:36whilst I'm spending hours in a uni lecture.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40It didn't seem to... worry me or scare me.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47We were just... we just fitted together.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53It wasn't long after the first tour...
0:27:53 > 0:27:55They knew they were going back.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59- ..that they were going back out. - Two years' time.- Two years' time.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05So, you could say you had two years for the build-up, it doesn't help.
0:28:08 > 0:28:09No, it doesn't.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13You still get to that last week and you know it's...
0:28:14 > 0:28:17..it's upon... it's come to the time.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22He didn't really talk about it that much.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26It wasn't until he got a phone call from one of his mates
0:28:26 > 0:28:29who was going out a few weeks earlier.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32He'd been told, this is where we'll be based,
0:28:32 > 0:28:37and it's a bad area, but he didn't tell us where.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42The minute we heard he was going to Nad-e Ali, that was it, we knew.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45That was the worst place, really, to go.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49And he didn't really give us that many details,
0:28:49 > 0:28:51so he must have been scared himself.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54It was a scary thing to think of.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00But I sort of looked on the brighter side.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14He said he was glad go to back.
0:29:14 > 0:29:19He wanted to really do a difference this time.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21But when we found out what he did in the first tour,
0:29:21 > 0:29:25saying how he went to this building, this compound,
0:29:25 > 0:29:29in front of the patrol with a mine detector, trying to detect IEDs,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31trying to defuse them.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36My ma was livid with him, she ordered him not to do it again.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40He promised he would never do it again. And sure enough, he did it.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46I couldn't even say bye-bye to him at the airport.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52And...
0:29:55 > 0:29:58I gave him a hug and walked off.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03- Left you with him.- Mm-hm.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12REPORTER: '..sombre day in a grim month of British losses.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17'And in Helmand, the fighting goes on. Every day, British servicemen and women out there
0:30:17 > 0:30:20'risking their lives in the full knowledge of the dangers that await them.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23'And here, back in Britain, so many families now,
0:30:23 > 0:30:27'whose lives have been changed for ever by their loss.'
0:30:28 > 0:30:32'It's become an all-too-familiar ritual in Wootton Bassett.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36'A town where Remembrance Day now comes around far more often
0:30:36 > 0:30:38'than it should.'
0:30:38 > 0:30:41Because I'm an old soldier,
0:30:41 > 0:30:46I know what it's like when comrades have got killed.
0:30:49 > 0:30:54I served for three years in the Western Desert with the Eighth Army.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05When the Germans came in, supporting the Italians,
0:31:05 > 0:31:10that's when it got very, very tough.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14We didn't have any air cover, you see.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18There was only one road up into the Western Desert.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24And the Germans had air superiority.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30They bombed the first two trucks,
0:31:30 > 0:31:35and then the fighters came along and machine-gunned the wagons.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40We were told not to lay on the sand,
0:31:40 > 0:31:44but to stand upright, make yourself as small a target as possible.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52You're scared all the time, of course you are. Everybody is scared.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59You know people are falling, you don't know
0:31:59 > 0:32:04whether they just fell over wounded or whether they've been shot dead
0:32:04 > 0:32:06or what's happened to them.
0:32:08 > 0:32:16I remember this guy was hit. We stopped and we buried him,
0:32:17 > 0:32:19by the side of the road.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22We got some wood, made a little cross
0:32:22 > 0:32:25and put his steel helmet on the top of it.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29Said one or two little prayers, you know?
0:32:30 > 0:32:32Like you do. And moved on.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35We didn't know his name.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41But we did the best we could for him.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54These guys that have been repatriated through our town,
0:32:54 > 0:33:01they have a burial spot, either in their own local church,
0:33:01 > 0:33:05or it might be a very nice, well-organised military cemetery.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11They've got somewhere where their parents and relatives can go
0:33:12 > 0:33:17and leave a few floral tributes. But that little guy...
0:33:22 > 0:33:24Right, trust me. Where you want to stand is
0:33:24 > 0:33:28between that first bollard and the traffic light here,
0:33:28 > 0:33:30in this general area or that area.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33As far as I know, it's running on schedule, about 3:15.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36No need to be worried about being here till about 2:45, really.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38Anything you need to know, just give us a shout.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42We usually get direct information if there's any problems.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44All I can say, I'm sorry that you're here
0:33:44 > 0:33:47under these circumstances, again.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52We passed it one day on the motorway, there were four that day,
0:33:52 > 0:33:54and it was very...
0:33:57 > 0:33:59It just makes me feel cold, even talking about it.
0:33:59 > 0:34:04It shouldn't be happening in the first place.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06- That's a lot of people's views, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11The side of it we see here in Bassett, they shouldn't be out there.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13That's what we think, anyway.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Talk to anybody in the town, I'm pretty sure they'd all say the same.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22- It's very upsetting. - A lot of people now are very upset
0:34:22 > 0:34:26about what's happening, and a lot of these guys are only 18, 20.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28- Kids, aren't they? - Babies, aren't they?
0:34:28 > 0:34:29- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33- So it's very, very sad. - Yes, I think so.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44When he was a little boy, he always had his head stuck in books.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48Loved wordsearch, crossword books.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54Making models of the Titanic and aeroplanes,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57and anything he could do with his hands.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00Titanic, he was obsessed with the Titanic.
0:35:01 > 0:35:06- Everything to do with Titanic, he was...- He was world expert on it!
0:35:06 > 0:35:08He was expert on the Titanic!
0:35:16 > 0:35:19He was like a wee nerd, kind of hung about the house,
0:35:19 > 0:35:23he was all into his Power Rangers and all his wee toys
0:35:23 > 0:35:26and his gadgets, and just sat, stuck in a corner somewhere.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32Come on, where's the Power Rangers tape?
0:35:32 > 0:35:34Michael, you can help me!
0:35:38 > 0:35:41There's not much of an age gap between me and Aaron.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44And we constantly played with each other.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57We would just love to tell each other stuff
0:35:57 > 0:35:59we wouldn't tell anybody else.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02That was just going for the bus together in the mornings
0:36:02 > 0:36:05to go to school and getting the bus back together
0:36:05 > 0:36:07and sitting in the house with each other at night-time.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11It was just that closeness.
0:36:19 > 0:36:20To get punished,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25- the rest would have been...- Grounded. - Grounded, kept in the house.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28To punish Aaron, we had to throw him out.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30Out to play.
0:36:41 > 0:36:42His nickname was Pingu.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44Pingu came from the fact that
0:36:44 > 0:36:46when he was younger he was kind of stumpy,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48and he kind of walked funny, so he got nicknamed Pingu.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56When we started school, he was wee and pudgy.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59So tiny, and he went in this big, long blazer.
0:36:59 > 0:37:00Mum swore it'd do him for years,
0:37:00 > 0:37:04so she'd buy him the biggest, massive blazer you could see.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10This is going to sound really stupid.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12He started cycling to school
0:37:12 > 0:37:15and all of a sudden he went from this wee thing to this big person,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17this six-foot person, overnight.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21He started becoming all right-looking,
0:37:21 > 0:37:24and the hair, and he just totally changed.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27I swear, from this wee dude to this big guy. It was weird.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30The confidence came out, and he was cocky about everything.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32If he was chocolate, he would have ate himself.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34He was just God's gift. He thought he was great.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38Have a picture with your mammy, all dressed...
0:37:38 > 0:37:42Stand over here where we can see you.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46Made all his friends, James, Dave, Tom, Parky.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51They'd all come and all went out together.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55Like all boys, they ended up discovering girls.
0:37:55 > 0:38:01Like you do! They were always away somewhere, the four of them together.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05First of all, it was a bit sort of, "Who's this geek?"
0:38:05 > 0:38:10He had that geeky tendency. We just thought he was a nerd.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12And then, once he relaxed
0:38:12 > 0:38:14and you got to know him a bit better,
0:38:14 > 0:38:16you realised he was just as mad as the rest of us.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18That's how we all fitted in together.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21He was usually the ringleader, too.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24He would have come up with some of the maddest ideas.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26We just all tagged along!
0:38:26 > 0:38:30He always wanted his mates around him,
0:38:30 > 0:38:33and there was no excuse you could give him.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37"I've got work the next day", just didn't fly with him at all.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39"I've got work at six in the morning,"
0:38:39 > 0:38:42he'd say, "I don't care, you come out now." I'd say, "OK!"
0:38:42 > 0:38:49He'd walk into a room full of men and he could get on with every man,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53but at the same time, he could have walked into a room full of women
0:38:53 > 0:38:55and by the time he left, they'd have been all sitting
0:38:55 > 0:38:59with their mouths open and gasping, type of thing.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01He just had the gift of the gab.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07And that cheeky smile, you know, about him.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Plus, he was darned good-looking.
0:39:12 > 0:39:13Which helps!
0:39:15 > 0:39:18And that's from a mother's point of view!
0:39:18 > 0:39:19But he was good-looking.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28When he was home on leave, the house was never empty.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30He loved a good carry-on.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34They used to all love the American wrestling, and the coffee table got
0:39:34 > 0:39:39moved out the way on a Friday night, and they had him down on the ground
0:39:39 > 0:39:41and they'd be doing all these moves on him.
0:39:43 > 0:39:44Just sheer mad house, wasn't it?
0:39:44 > 0:39:46- Just enjoying themselves.- Aye.
0:39:48 > 0:39:49He loved all the likes of that.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55Just loved a good carry-on.
0:40:08 > 0:40:15Plans from Mike-Delta-2185, plane on time, will touch down at 13:00 hours. Received.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17Roger that, Mike-Deltha-2185.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23'The parents of a soldier being repatriated into RAF Lyneham have
0:40:23 > 0:40:26'described how their son was always the life of the party
0:40:26 > 0:40:28'and made friends wherever he went.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31'They said 22-year-old Aaron always...'
0:40:31 > 0:40:34'The body of a soldier killed in an explosion in Afghanistan
0:40:34 > 0:40:36'on Remembrance Sunday has been flown home.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38'22-year-old Ranger Aaron McCormick
0:40:38 > 0:40:41'of 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment was flown into...'
0:40:41 > 0:40:43'The body of a Northern Ireland soldier
0:40:43 > 0:40:46'killed in Afghanistan arrived back in the UK.
0:40:46 > 0:40:47'Ranger Aaron McCormick's family spoke
0:40:47 > 0:40:49'of their immense pride and loss.'
0:40:49 > 0:40:53'Aaron died as he was clearing improvised explosive devices
0:40:53 > 0:40:57'in Helmand province. He leaves behind his girlfriend Becky,
0:40:57 > 0:40:59'his mum and dad and his two sisters and a brother.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03'But the sense of loss has been felt beyond the family circle.'
0:41:05 > 0:41:06Oh, yes.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12That's how cruel war is. Takes away all the young ones.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19These tributes are left at our war memorial
0:41:19 > 0:41:22after the hearse has moved on.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25To me, they're sacred.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30It's mums, dads last message to their loved one.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36Rather than have them blown away or destroyed by the weather,
0:41:36 > 0:41:41I fetch them all back here into this album, and then those boys
0:41:41 > 0:41:44who have passed through Wootton Bassett,
0:41:44 > 0:41:50they're all recorded in here. So, history itself was written here.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58That boy will never know his dad and never have him to take him to school,
0:41:58 > 0:42:01meet him from school, play with him.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05Read him a bedtime story, like us dads do.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11That little thing will never have it. Neither will those there.
0:42:13 > 0:42:19"Dear Matthew. Gone, but will never be forgotten. Love forever and ever.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23"God bless. Sleep well, our dearest grandson."
0:42:29 > 0:42:33I'm a grandad. That could have been my son, my grandson.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47I hope I never have to fill it completely.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51You always hope that the last repatriation, which is today,
0:42:51 > 0:42:52will be the last one.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56I have a few more pages to come here,
0:42:56 > 0:43:02but I hope we shall never have to see it filled.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09'British troops in Afghanistan are getting killed in greater numbers
0:43:09 > 0:43:13'than ever before, and suffering ever-higher rates of injury.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17'Most of them are due to IEDs, or improvised explosive devices.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19'That's according to figures published by the MoD,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21'the Ministry of Defence.'
0:43:21 > 0:43:25You worry every day, but it's what he chose to do, and...
0:43:27 > 0:43:29You just lived for the phone calls...
0:43:31 > 0:43:33..so you did.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37You carried your mobile everywhere in case he phoned.
0:43:39 > 0:43:46Any bit of word from him was like gold dust.
0:43:49 > 0:43:54And every time you heard any news on the TV, you worried yourself sick
0:43:54 > 0:43:56until you heard from him.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59'This month has been the bloodiest of all in Helmand,
0:43:59 > 0:44:00'with the fighting said to be
0:44:00 > 0:44:02'some of the toughest since the Korean War.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05'And it's taking its toll, with frontline medical care...'
0:44:05 > 0:44:08You literally felt like you were carrying
0:44:08 > 0:44:10a sack of coal on your shoulders.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12'In the first two weeks of July alone,
0:44:12 > 0:44:14'57 troops were wounded in action.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17'That compares to the whole of June, which saw...'
0:44:17 > 0:44:21I normally don't watch the news, but I was watching it all the time,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24checking Teletext, I was listening to the radio all the time.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27'Three Royal Irish Regiment soldiers were injured
0:44:27 > 0:44:30'in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan at the weekend.'
0:44:30 > 0:44:32If you heard the word Afghanistan, that was it,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35you were instantly hooked, you turned round and watched.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38A former SAS commander in Afghanistan has described
0:44:38 > 0:44:40the British military operation
0:44:40 > 0:44:43in the south of the country as worthless.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45'Amid some of the toughest fighting...'
0:44:45 > 0:44:48You were scared of missing something, as silly as that sounds.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51You'd think, "If I don't watch this news and I miss seeing him,"
0:44:51 > 0:44:54and that was going to be the last time you'd see him,
0:44:54 > 0:44:56silly things go through your head. Obsessed.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00It was never off in the house. The news was always there, always on.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04'This is some of the most intense fighting
0:45:04 > 0:45:07'ever experienced by British troops in Helmand.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10'They've battled the Taliban for years
0:45:10 > 0:45:12'and still they keep coming.'
0:45:12 > 0:45:15He had a time limit on what he could use the phone.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18He phoned us and he phoned his girlfriend,
0:45:18 > 0:45:21and it was split between the two of us...
0:45:22 > 0:45:23..so it was.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27And then we were e-mailing and...
0:45:27 > 0:45:28Yeah, we e-mailed him.
0:45:28 > 0:45:29Every night,
0:45:30 > 0:45:32so we were.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34So...
0:45:35 > 0:45:39And it was funny, cos he must have waited on our e-mails every night,
0:45:39 > 0:45:43cos the answers were coming back straight away,
0:45:43 > 0:45:45you know, and...
0:45:45 > 0:45:47that helped.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Of course, he told us not to worry, and...
0:45:52 > 0:45:54I think that's understandable.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57All the boys were probably home saying that to their parents.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01"Don't worry, we'll be fine."
0:46:03 > 0:46:05You know, so...
0:46:06 > 0:46:08But it doesn't stop you worrying...
0:46:10 > 0:46:12..sure it doesn't.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19He spoke whenever he could,
0:46:19 > 0:46:22he tried to do it once a week, sometimes it was twice.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25He never really...went into detail.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27Sort of just joking.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30"We're going to be...
0:46:30 > 0:46:33"we're going out on patrol," and then it was like,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36"When I come back, I'm going to be sunbathing and I'm going to get myself a good time,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40"so you'll look really white next to me." And...
0:46:42 > 0:46:46just...I think he was...it made him feel better by joking,
0:46:46 > 0:46:50and it made me feel like it wasn't such an issue.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59He rung one night, half 11 at night,
0:46:59 > 0:47:04and we just gabbed for 20 minutes, having a laugh, catching up.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08Asking what was things like back here,
0:47:08 > 0:47:11just trying to get as much information, you know,
0:47:11 > 0:47:13trying to get back...has he missed anything over here.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20You could tell in his voice he just wanted to get home,
0:47:20 > 0:47:22serve his time...
0:47:23 > 0:47:27..get back home, get decent food,
0:47:27 > 0:47:29and be with family and friends again.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39It was the last night he was home.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43Before he headed off, he bought drinks, sat down and says, "I've something to tell you,
0:47:43 > 0:47:48"I'll not be back, I'll not be walking into my house again on my own two feet."
0:47:48 > 0:47:51I looked at him, "What are you talking about? You're crazy."
0:47:51 > 0:47:53"Of course you're coming home."
0:47:53 > 0:47:55I says, "I'll miss you like crazy if you don't come home,"
0:47:55 > 0:47:58and he laughed, and went, "No, seriously,
0:47:58 > 0:48:01"I'll not be walking home, you'll not be welcoming me off the plane next time,
0:48:01 > 0:48:08"I'll be coming back in a box." And he says the numbers are just too high, there's no chance.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11He said, "I was lucky to come home without a scratch after the first tour.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15"The chances of me coming back without a scratch on the second tour are just...
0:48:15 > 0:48:17"the numbers just don't add up."
0:48:17 > 0:48:21We all joked with him and says that, no, of course
0:48:21 > 0:48:24he was going to come home, and everything was going to be all right.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27But he was adamant that he wasn't, even to the extent
0:48:27 > 0:48:33that he secretly went and got baptised at the Church of Ireland Church just at the end of his road
0:48:33 > 0:48:34before he headed out.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55The holiday was booked a year in advance,
0:48:55 > 0:49:00so it was long before Aaron even went to Afghanistan,
0:49:00 > 0:49:02so it was.
0:49:03 > 0:49:04But...
0:49:05 > 0:49:09..yes, in a way, we felt bad going on holiday
0:49:09 > 0:49:11knowing that Aaron was out there.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15But it was only two weeks and...
0:49:18 > 0:49:22We had our mob...we had our mobiles with us,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26and he could have still phoned us, you know.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30We had said to Aaron, and Aaron said, "No way.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35"Yous are going," you know, because he loved his holidays.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38And he says, "No, no," he says, "Go on."
0:49:40 > 0:49:43You know, he made us promise that we would go.
0:49:43 > 0:49:44So...
0:49:46 > 0:49:47..go we went.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04I was getting ready for work and he rang,
0:50:04 > 0:50:08and we were on the phone for ages. It was longer than usual
0:50:08 > 0:50:11because he wasn't going to ring his mum cos she was on holiday.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15And he was just saying how he'd been...
0:50:15 > 0:50:20He hadn't had time to ring this week, but he'd sent me letters
0:50:20 > 0:50:22and he'd got my letters through.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26He was fine, he was joking, he was taking the Mickey out of me.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28He was always winding me up cos I'm English,
0:50:28 > 0:50:33so he was laughing about that, and it was...it was a good phone call.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36And then, came down, and me dad was, like,
0:50:36 > 0:50:41"You've spoken to Aaron, I can tell, you seem more happier in yourself."
0:50:41 > 0:50:45And then... To think that was the last phone call...
0:50:53 > 0:50:56But I have that, and his family don't.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01(It breaks my heart.)
0:51:04 > 0:51:06SHE SOBS
0:51:18 > 0:51:21I go to as many repatriations as I possibly can.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25Having lost Jason,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27families came out to support me
0:51:27 > 0:51:30and I think it's really important that...
0:51:30 > 0:51:34I want to be there, I want to give the families
0:51:34 > 0:51:36the sort of support that they gave me.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38Um...
0:51:38 > 0:51:41and that's the reason why I go.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46On the way today, I'm going to pop into Lydiard Park
0:51:46 > 0:51:49to see if I can find the memorial for Jason.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54I always take Jason's beret with me.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02I like to feel that he's still a part of it, so that's why I do that.
0:52:08 > 0:52:15'This is the first field dedicated to the 342 service men and women
0:52:15 > 0:52:18'who've lost their lives in the Afghan conflict.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21'For the families of the fallen,
0:52:21 > 0:52:24'this field has created a unique place where they can
0:52:24 > 0:52:29'gather and remember. The Royal British Legion deliberately
0:52:29 > 0:52:34'chose to create this field near the Wiltshire market town of Wootton Bassett.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37'Over the last few years people have regularly turned out to...'
0:53:09 > 0:53:12SOBBING
0:53:20 > 0:53:25- Where's yours?- He's here. Here.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33When did you lose your boy?
0:53:33 > 0:53:35He was my nephew.
0:53:35 > 0:53:36Oh, he was your nephew.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40February, this happened. He was due home on the 14th
0:53:40 > 0:53:44and he'd been out there for six months in Helmand Province.
0:53:44 > 0:53:45Oh, darling.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47What one is your baby?
0:53:47 > 0:53:53There, the second row from the back, the second from the right,
0:53:53 > 0:53:55- Jason Mackie. - Oh, he's lovely.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57He was a beaut, I know.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02I'm so sorry for your loss, I'm so sorry for this war,
0:54:02 > 0:54:04I'm so sorry for it all.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09We're used to them being away,
0:54:09 > 0:54:12and as the time goes by, you realise they ain't coming back.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15That's the problem, when they don't come back.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17- Thanks for comforting me. - You're welcome.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20I was looking for the photo and I couldn't find it
0:54:20 > 0:54:24and I could see the other one and my brother, he's in Kandahar just now.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26Oh, is he?
0:54:26 > 0:54:28And it's just, like,
0:54:28 > 0:54:31every time the door goes when it's not supposed to go,
0:54:31 > 0:54:35when you come to the door and it's just...it's horrific, isn't it?
0:54:35 > 0:54:36Mm.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44Just look at them, I mean there are just so many of them,
0:54:44 > 0:54:45it's so unfair.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50'Described as a giant amongst men,
0:54:50 > 0:54:53'he was killed by the Taliban on Remembrance Sunday...'
0:54:53 > 0:54:56'He was very outgoing and loving to his family.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00'I sort of grew up with him cos he lived next door to my granny and grandad.'
0:55:00 > 0:55:02'I knew him to see him and he was a very, very nice fella
0:55:02 > 0:55:05'and they seemed to be an awful nice family.'
0:55:05 > 0:55:08'Those words summed up the mood in Macosquin
0:55:08 > 0:55:11'as people were trying to come to terms with the death of Aaron McCormick.
0:55:11 > 0:55:16'Friends and neighbours say they've been left devastated by the news.'
0:55:18 > 0:55:22All of a sudden my mum's house just got took over, there was people everywhere.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25It hadn't sunk in to us without having to console somebody else,
0:55:25 > 0:55:30like, a person that you didn't even... you didn't want to, you just wanted to say piss off, go home,
0:55:30 > 0:55:33like, I haven't dealt with this yet without you coming to the door.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36As ignorant as it sounds, you were just kind of like smiling,
0:55:36 > 0:55:39you just found yourself smiling, "Do you want a cup of tea, a sandwich?"
0:55:39 > 0:55:42as if you were consoling them. You were like a maid,
0:55:42 > 0:55:44you were walking around doing stuff,
0:55:44 > 0:55:46even though you really didn't want to.
0:55:46 > 0:55:48'A soldier from Northern Ireland
0:55:48 > 0:55:52'who died in Afghanistan yesterday was from Macosquin in County Londonderry...'
0:55:52 > 0:55:58'..in his home village of Macosquin in County Londonderry, there's been a great sense of sorrow today...'
0:55:58 > 0:56:00'..his family are well known in the Macosquin area.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04'They received the devastating news while they were on holiday.'
0:56:04 > 0:56:06It was a nightmare.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08The press drove us insane.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13They were knocking on the door,
0:56:13 > 0:56:15they were chasing people around the estate.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21They were chasing people around the local shop.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23They drove us mad.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28At times like that, you don't want to talk to the press,
0:56:28 > 0:56:30you just want your family.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36It got, for a while, every shop you walked in to it was like,
0:56:36 > 0:56:39"Our brave soldier, we salute you",
0:56:39 > 0:56:42that's all you see on the front pages of the newspaper.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45Every day, there was something there.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47It's like people became obsessed with it, you know,
0:56:47 > 0:56:50the story of this person was from Macosquin
0:56:50 > 0:56:52and he's from Northern Ireland or whatever,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55and they were just getting obsessed with the whole thing.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01It annoyed me, actually, it angered me because that was my brother,
0:57:01 > 0:57:04it wasn't just a person on the front of a newspaper, like.
0:57:05 > 0:57:06That was my brother.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16'The people of Wootton Bassett
0:57:16 > 0:57:19'said they realised they had become a proxy for the grief of the nation.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22'We've latched on to what they're doing.
0:57:22 > 0:57:27'Do you think that is because there's no formal mechanism for recognising those who come back?
0:57:27 > 0:57:32'I do, yes, Sarah, but there has never been a formal mechanism for recognising those who come back
0:57:32 > 0:57:36'because, quite honestly, in the past, they didn't come back.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40'We don't have a set of national rituals for bringing the dead home.'
0:57:47 > 0:57:51I lost my brother, Tom, in 1951 in the Korean war.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56We were devastated but the big problem was for me, Korea, well, where is Korea?
0:57:56 > 0:57:59Could have been on the moon for all we knew back then.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Tom was a very caring guy.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09He was a member of the St. John Ambulance.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13He would do voluntary duties with the local rugby team.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17He was always there for neighbours to call out,
0:58:17 > 0:58:21say, "Can you come along, Tom? Young John's got a pea in his ear."
0:58:23 > 0:58:29When he went off to do his National Service prior to going to Korea,
0:58:29 > 0:58:36he wrote home to my mother without fail every week, and...
0:58:36 > 0:58:38we missed him.
0:58:39 > 0:58:41GRENADE FIRE
0:58:42 > 0:58:43MACHINE GUN FIRE
0:58:49 > 0:58:54When you lose a loved one, you recall everything,
0:58:56 > 0:58:58and I remember sitting on the wall outside my house
0:58:58 > 0:59:04and a telegram boy came along on the bike, as they did in those days,
0:59:04 > 0:59:06and he handed me this yellow envelope.
0:59:08 > 0:59:10I dashed indoors,
0:59:10 > 0:59:12mum was sat in the armchair,
0:59:12 > 0:59:17I waited expectantly to hear that Tom was on his way home.
0:59:18 > 0:59:23When mum opened the telegram, she just erupted and went completely hysterical.
0:59:28 > 0:59:31You know, when you're 13 years of age,
0:59:31 > 0:59:33you consider yourself invincible,
0:59:33 > 0:59:38you've run, you've jumped ditches, you know, you've climbed trees,
0:59:38 > 0:59:43and suddenly, you know, you lose your brother, aged 21,
0:59:43 > 0:59:47and you realise that even at that young age, you're vulnerable.
0:59:49 > 0:59:51I'm prepared to admit this,
0:59:51 > 0:59:54I became a much more nervous character.
0:59:55 > 1:00:02The loss of someone in your home it's...it's a permanent loss,
1:00:02 > 1:00:04it's irrecoverable.
1:00:07 > 1:00:10Mum obviously loved all her five boys
1:00:10 > 1:00:13but there's something special about Tom for Mum and...
1:00:15 > 1:00:19..I don't want to sound too dramatic about this,
1:00:19 > 1:00:21but there were many times when...
1:00:21 > 1:00:25when Mum...when things were really low for her,
1:00:25 > 1:00:27and she was feeling pretty depressed...
1:00:29 > 1:00:33..she would say, um, "I want to be with Tom."
1:00:37 > 1:00:41You cannot replace
1:00:41 > 1:00:44a loved one, but I think it would have been,
1:00:44 > 1:00:50it would have helped her mental state to have, as I say,
1:00:50 > 1:00:52had her boy home,
1:00:52 > 1:00:55to have been able to say her final goodbyes to him.
1:00:57 > 1:00:59And most of all, to know where he is.
1:01:15 > 1:01:19I'm Bert Davey and I'm the Consort to the Mayor of Wootton Bassett.
1:01:19 > 1:01:23We tend to split up on these occasions,
1:01:23 > 1:01:29because there are so many folk who gather here and it's not a ceremony,
1:01:29 > 1:01:34it's not official, we just turn up. Anyway, I'm sorry that this is the way you're seeing our little town.
1:01:36 > 1:01:39- How are you? - Not too bad, not too bad, yeah.
1:01:39 > 1:01:43MEN CHATTER
1:01:43 > 1:01:47I've been to so many of these occasions and, quite honestly, I'm still lost for words
1:01:47 > 1:01:50because anything I say is quite empty.
1:01:50 > 1:01:52- Have you been before? - No, it's my first time.
1:01:52 > 1:01:56- Where have you travelled from? - Leamington Spa. - Leamington Spa?
1:01:56 > 1:01:59Nice to see a good turn out, guys.
1:01:59 > 1:02:02Absolutely brilliant, really pleased.
1:02:02 > 1:02:04Hello, old timer, you all right?
1:02:04 > 1:02:08There's a path, I'm going to go down here and see all this lot.
1:02:11 > 1:02:15It's never been done before in military history
1:02:15 > 1:02:17where a whole town has stood still.
1:02:18 > 1:02:20For soldiers coming back.
1:02:22 > 1:02:25It's only in Wootton Bassett where it's ever happened.
1:02:35 > 1:02:41Everybody there has this common empathy.
1:02:43 > 1:02:47People are there just to pay their respects to a soldier
1:02:47 > 1:02:50who was out there doing his bit.
1:02:50 > 1:02:53They turn up on the day
1:02:53 > 1:02:55because they feel it's important.
1:02:59 > 1:03:04It's about that common wanting to be there, common purpose.
1:03:14 > 1:03:17Hello, gentlemen. Good afternoon.
1:03:17 > 1:03:21I'm Morris Baker, I'm president of Wootton Bassett Royal British Legion
1:03:21 > 1:03:24and also, for want of a better description, parade marshal.
1:03:24 > 1:03:27I don't know what you want to do, but if I tell you what we do
1:03:27 > 1:03:31and you'd like to join in with us, we'd be pleased to have you, all right?
1:03:31 > 1:03:34- When in Rome...- When in Rome. That's it.
1:03:34 > 1:03:36I only give you two words of command.
1:03:36 > 1:03:39They're both the word "up".
1:03:39 > 1:03:44And what starts is, the cortege will start outside the church down there...
1:04:18 > 1:04:20When I see the coffins going by
1:04:20 > 1:04:22and they're all draped in the Union Jack,
1:04:22 > 1:04:25I don't see what colour somebody is or what religion they are,
1:04:25 > 1:04:28or what age they were, or what part of the country they're from,
1:04:28 > 1:04:31they're just one of me.
1:04:31 > 1:04:33And that's why I'm stood here.
1:04:33 > 1:04:35That's why I stand in the street
1:04:35 > 1:04:38and that's why I get cold or hot to pay that respect,
1:04:38 > 1:04:40because they're one of us.
1:04:40 > 1:04:41Excuse me, gentlemen.
1:04:41 > 1:04:44- Sorry. - It's all this green, it confuses me.
1:04:44 > 1:04:48Hi. Just to let you know, can you keep this area free for the family?
1:04:48 > 1:04:50This is exactly where we're going to put them.
1:04:50 > 1:04:52So there needs to be room for about six.
1:04:53 > 1:04:55I imagine 10 or 15 minutes or so...
1:04:55 > 1:04:58- POLICE RADIO:- Family approaching designated parking space,
1:04:58 > 1:05:00cortege 10 minutes behind them, over.
1:05:00 > 1:05:02Thank you, mate. I'm going now.
1:05:02 > 1:05:04- Is it coming now? - The family are coming now.
1:05:04 > 1:05:07You can stay here, but spread out when they come here.
1:05:07 > 1:05:09This is where they're going to be. Thank you.
1:05:09 > 1:05:12Just to let you know, sir, the family are on the way.
1:05:12 > 1:05:14OK, thank you very much.
1:05:14 > 1:05:17All right, guys, family are on their way.
1:05:17 > 1:05:19- The family are on their way. - Are they? OK.
1:05:19 > 1:05:21Yes, so it won't be too long.
1:05:24 > 1:05:25Horrible, isn't it?
1:05:25 > 1:05:28I know, I know, it's about here.
1:05:33 > 1:05:36The family have just arrived.
1:05:37 > 1:05:40I am really sorry to meet you here. I'm so sorry.
1:05:40 > 1:05:42Thanks for all you're doing.
1:05:42 > 1:05:46Don't thank me, it's a privilege what I have to do here, all right?
1:05:46 > 1:05:51- It really is. And you've got some families here to see you. - That's who I am looking for.
1:05:51 > 1:05:53They thought they'd come and see you.
1:05:53 > 1:05:56They've been here since the early hours, I think they beat me.
1:06:11 > 1:06:14The cortege is about 10 minutes away at best now.
1:06:14 > 1:06:17It'll go quiet and a bell will start to toll,
1:06:17 > 1:06:19so you'll know it's there.
1:06:19 > 1:06:22Everybody's here for you, so if you need anything, just shout.
1:06:22 > 1:06:25But I'll walk up, you follow me up and I'll fight you a way through.
1:06:25 > 1:06:29I'm a bit like a snowplough, to be honest. OK?
1:06:31 > 1:06:33I've been sharing very many memories...
1:06:33 > 1:06:36I can't even remember the trip, at all.
1:06:37 > 1:06:41I can remember getting out the van and Steve coming...
1:06:41 > 1:06:45Big Steve met as soon as we got off the van.
1:06:45 > 1:06:46..straight for me.
1:06:46 > 1:06:51And at first I thought, you know, "My God, look at the size of this man!"
1:06:51 > 1:06:55Excuse me, gentlemen, can I shift you all out the way here? Thanks so much.
1:06:55 > 1:06:57Exactly where you want to be is here, OK?
1:06:57 > 1:07:00It's going to stop right in front of you, OK?
1:07:00 > 1:07:03If you need anything shout us, all right?
1:07:03 > 1:07:06'I know you might be thinking, how can she forget it? But...
1:07:09 > 1:07:11'..all we were thinking of was Aaron.'
1:07:11 > 1:07:15This police officer will move out of the way in a minute for you.
1:07:15 > 1:07:16We just wanted Aaron.
1:07:16 > 1:07:21We just wanted to open it up and take him out and bring him home,
1:07:21 > 1:07:24You know, but...
1:07:24 > 1:07:27we couldn't, of course, you know.
1:07:31 > 1:07:33Standard-bearers.
1:07:43 > 1:07:49- POLICE RADIO:- 15.10, roadblocks in place, all units into allocated positions now.
1:07:49 > 1:07:51Just spread a bit there in the middle.
1:08:08 > 1:08:11- POLICE RADIO:- Cortege approaching, over.
1:08:13 > 1:08:19BELL TOLLS CONTINUOUSLY
1:08:49 > 1:08:50Up!
1:09:28 > 1:09:29Up!
1:11:26 > 1:11:27Up!
1:12:37 > 1:12:39Standard-bearers, fall out!
1:12:39 > 1:12:42TOLLING STOPS
1:12:45 > 1:12:48'The hardest bit, I think, that day,
1:12:48 > 1:12:51'was seeing the coffin coming off the plane.
1:12:51 > 1:12:53'That's when it hit me the hardest.'
1:12:54 > 1:13:00That's the first you get to see Aaron when they bring him home,
1:13:00 > 1:13:02coming off the plane.
1:13:02 > 1:13:06And it's the last thing you expect, to be carried off.
1:13:06 > 1:13:08And...
1:13:11 > 1:13:13..that's when it hit me hard.
1:13:14 > 1:13:16It was.
1:13:23 > 1:13:26I wouldn't cry that day.
1:13:26 > 1:13:31I was too proud of my son to stand and cry.
1:13:31 > 1:13:35I said he wasn't coming off that plane to me standing crying.
1:13:36 > 1:13:39I was too proud of him.
1:13:39 > 1:13:45I know it might seem stupid to some people, but that's the way I felt.
1:13:45 > 1:13:49He wasn't coming home to his mother standing crying.
1:13:52 > 1:13:54I was just too proud of him.
1:14:10 > 1:14:12These people hadn't met him before,
1:14:12 > 1:14:17they just knew him as a Ranger from the Royal Irish,
1:14:17 > 1:14:22but they were still there and they were still showing their respect.
1:14:24 > 1:14:31You see people lined up just showing a little bit of kindness,
1:14:31 > 1:14:33and it shows...you see the horror of humanity
1:14:33 > 1:14:37and then you see that there is still good out there.
1:14:37 > 1:14:41And I think you need to see that, you do.
1:14:44 > 1:14:49It sort of brings a bit of comfort to you, knowing that...
1:14:49 > 1:14:52..there is something like that out there.
1:14:58 > 1:15:00Thank you for coming.
1:15:00 > 1:15:04- It was an honour to be here. - It was very good.
1:15:04 > 1:15:06I mean, you never can imagine this at all,
1:15:06 > 1:15:09you know, when you're watching TV.
1:15:09 > 1:15:10But the people are so kind,
1:15:10 > 1:15:15- and especially those people in that Cross Keys, is it called?- Yes.
1:15:15 > 1:15:18Can I say, on behalf of the people of Wootton Bassett,
1:15:18 > 1:15:23I do hope this show of respect that we paid for Aaron this afternoon
1:15:23 > 1:15:25will help you and be some strength to you
1:15:25 > 1:15:27at the most difficult time for you.
1:15:27 > 1:15:30I wear this Elizabeth Cross with pride,
1:15:30 > 1:15:33I lost my brother in the Korean War when he was just 21,
1:15:33 > 1:15:36so I know just how you must be feeling as parents.
1:15:36 > 1:15:38Thank you, there's no words can say.
1:15:40 > 1:15:43My last memory of it -
1:15:43 > 1:15:45the sheer amount of respect.
1:15:47 > 1:15:50And you can literally feel the respect in the air,
1:15:50 > 1:15:53sure you can, from the people.
1:15:55 > 1:15:58I think, I think that will be...
1:16:00 > 1:16:05You know, seeing the old soldiers standing to attention and saluting,
1:16:05 > 1:16:11and, you know, just things like that there.
1:16:14 > 1:16:19Like, it's every parent's worse nightmare to have to go through that,
1:16:19 > 1:16:22but to know that the support we got from them...
1:16:24 > 1:16:29..you know, you could feel it, sure you could.
1:16:29 > 1:16:31And it did help.
1:16:32 > 1:16:36- POLICE RADIO:- Two minutes to clear, please, two minutes to clear.
1:16:45 > 1:16:48Aaron would have wanted to talk to every single one of them.
1:16:50 > 1:16:53You know, to thank them for being there.
1:16:53 > 1:16:58And should it have took him all week, if he could have, he'd have done it.
1:17:06 > 1:17:09Have one. You're allowed in the street, have one.
1:17:09 > 1:17:13Sit down with me, come and sit with me because I need a seat.
1:17:13 > 1:17:15Sit with me.
1:17:15 > 1:17:19I'll rest my back cos it's hurting, you get a fag out and light one up, I don't mind.
1:17:19 > 1:17:22I don't smoke any more but I don't mind.
1:17:22 > 1:17:25But I am sorry to meet you in such circumstances,
1:17:25 > 1:17:27I think you're braver than I could ever be.
1:17:27 > 1:17:30I did say, if my daughter was in this position, I couldn't do this,
1:17:30 > 1:17:33and I think for you to do it is fantastic.
1:17:35 > 1:17:38I'm just looking at all them bikes and thinking,
1:17:38 > 1:17:42- my God, Aaron would have loved a go on them. - Yeah, he would've.
1:18:02 > 1:18:05RADIO REPORTER: 'The A3102 through Wootton Bassett
1:18:05 > 1:18:10'is getting back to normal after the repatriation ceremony which closed the High Street,
1:18:10 > 1:18:14'and delays are expected through Devizes due to road works and lights on the A360...'
1:18:18 > 1:18:21- I know.- I'm sorry, cos we've got a flight to catch.
1:18:21 > 1:18:24I know you do, and I've got to get on and get this lot all off the way.
1:18:24 > 1:18:27- It was my pleasure, guys. - You'll hear from me, believe me.
1:18:27 > 1:18:31Thank you, and I tell you what, just remember how many people stood here,
1:18:31 > 1:18:35and travelled from London, Devon, Dorset, The Midlands
1:18:35 > 1:18:38because we want to stand in the street to pay you the support,
1:18:38 > 1:18:40not for any other reason, that's why we come.
1:18:40 > 1:18:42That's all we come for, all right?
1:18:42 > 1:18:44You're in my heart, all right?
1:18:47 > 1:18:48Thank you, guys.
1:18:53 > 1:18:57This one was no easier than the last,
1:18:57 > 1:19:00and the many that have gone on before.
1:19:00 > 1:19:06But Aaron's done his duty, and we're saying thank you to him for doing that,
1:19:06 > 1:19:08and I think what we ultimately are saying -
1:19:08 > 1:19:11and I do hope I've chosen the right word for it -
1:19:11 > 1:19:15because it's not something that's a pleasure,
1:19:15 > 1:19:17but it's a privilege...
1:19:17 > 1:19:24..it's a privilege for Wootton Bassett to be able to pay their respect to Aaron,
1:19:24 > 1:19:26on behalf of the nation, we hope.
1:19:42 > 1:19:45And I guess that's what it's all about.
1:19:45 > 1:19:48Supporting people when they need it.
1:19:50 > 1:19:52And we'll have to keep doing that.
1:20:43 > 1:20:46SOUNDS OF CHILDREN PLAYING
1:20:56 > 1:21:01I was asked a question recently -
1:21:01 > 1:21:03"When does it start to get easier?"
1:21:05 > 1:21:07It doesn't.
1:21:07 > 1:21:10If anything, it's getting harder.
1:21:15 > 1:21:18You're used to them being away for a while,
1:21:19 > 1:21:22but you're constantly waiting for the phone call,
1:21:22 > 1:21:25"Och, I'm at the airport, come and get me,"
1:21:25 > 1:21:28and, you know, we know we're never going to hear that again.
1:21:32 > 1:21:36You're waiting on the front door getting opened and,
1:21:36 > 1:21:39"Somebody get the frying pan on," you know.
1:21:39 > 1:21:42Knowing we'll never...we'll never hear that again.
1:22:10 > 1:22:11Our saving grace is...
1:22:11 > 1:22:15..we can stand in our garden and we can see him.
1:22:17 > 1:22:20With the church just being a couple of yards down the road,
1:22:20 > 1:22:22we can see where Aaron is.
1:22:22 > 1:22:26Any time we want to go to him, we can go to him.
1:22:31 > 1:22:35You do have your really off days, you don't even want to see nobody,
1:22:35 > 1:22:39you don't want to speak to nobody, you don't want anybody near you.
1:22:39 > 1:22:42But then, it's nice going down to the graveside now,
1:22:42 > 1:22:45because his headstone's there.
1:22:48 > 1:22:51I don't look at that as a bad place.
1:22:51 > 1:22:52I go down there and talk to him.
1:22:52 > 1:22:54I tell him everything, still.
1:22:54 > 1:22:57I sound a bit crazy at times,
1:22:57 > 1:23:00but it's nice seeing him there, like Aaron's home.
1:23:07 > 1:23:10THE FAMILY ARGUING AND LAUGHING
1:23:10 > 1:23:14I called my last card ages ago and threw that down...
1:23:18 > 1:23:20Hearts on the card.
1:23:21 > 1:23:25Then he'd have just went to me, "Well, Ma, that's it."
1:23:25 > 1:23:26(SHE LAUGHS)
1:23:26 > 1:23:29He would have really cracked up when he lost.
1:23:29 > 1:23:31- Oh!- Oooooh, sure, man!
1:23:31 > 1:23:35The chairs would have went flying, everything.
1:23:36 > 1:23:39He didn't like losing at anything.
1:23:39 > 1:23:41LAUGHTER
1:23:41 > 1:23:45'You know, you have them memories, and memories never go.
1:23:45 > 1:23:47'We all grew up pretty well...'
1:23:47 > 1:23:52..and all bonded as adults, as much as we wanted to kill each other as children,
1:23:52 > 1:23:55we all kind of grew up and always ended up back in my mum's house,
1:23:55 > 1:23:57no matter what happened.
1:23:57 > 1:24:00Always stuck in that bungalow, stuck in that wee house.
1:24:02 > 1:24:05We just hovered about that kitchen or in the side garden
1:24:05 > 1:24:08and Michael was maybe out or Callie was out,
1:24:08 > 1:24:11then when Aaron was home he was always lingering about somewhere,
1:24:11 > 1:24:15so it's kind of like that kitchen and garden has all my memories of Aaron,
1:24:15 > 1:24:17all of them, actually.
1:24:19 > 1:24:22SCREAMING AND LAUGHING
1:24:29 > 1:24:31You pig!
1:24:40 > 1:24:43Aaron always done crazy things, ever since the day he could walk,
1:24:43 > 1:24:46- so he was. - He was a bad influence on me.
1:24:46 > 1:24:50- He was the joker of the family. - He was the joker of the family.
1:24:50 > 1:24:55He'd have been the one that started the carry on and instigated and everything.
1:24:55 > 1:25:01Anything that was started, it was Aaron usually started it, so he would have.
1:25:01 > 1:25:07He'd have went in and lay flat on the bed and pulled the quilt over them so you didn't see him,
1:25:07 > 1:25:09and you'd have went in to lie down,
1:25:09 > 1:25:12and got on the bed and lay down, and the next thing you felt
1:25:12 > 1:25:17was the arms and legs just coming up out of the bed and coming round you.
1:25:17 > 1:25:20- Not as gently as that, now. - No, no, no.
1:25:20 > 1:25:21- Heart attack.- Heart attack time.
1:25:21 > 1:25:23Oh, it used to be madness.
1:25:23 > 1:25:27He put an apple in his mouth and got on the table and pretended
1:25:27 > 1:25:30he was the Christmas pig and told me not to eat him.
1:25:30 > 1:25:33I'll never get that image out of my head on this table.
1:25:33 > 1:25:38- In his boxer shorts. - In his boxers, it was disturbing.
1:25:38 > 1:25:40And then with his hands tied behind his back
1:25:40 > 1:25:43and a big red apple in his mouth, going, "Don't eat me, Tammy!"
1:25:43 > 1:25:45SHE LAUGHS
1:25:46 > 1:25:49My daddy and Aaron has the same witty sense of humour,
1:25:49 > 1:25:52so you sort of look at Daddy and you still sort of see Aaron,
1:25:52 > 1:25:55that cocky, arrogant sense of humour.
1:25:55 > 1:25:57YOU NEVER CALLED YOUR LAST CARD!
1:25:57 > 1:25:59You knock before you throw the last card down!
1:25:59 > 1:26:01- Oh, no!- You don't throw that down...
1:26:01 > 1:26:02ARGUING
1:26:02 > 1:26:05'I'll never forget him, never.'
1:26:05 > 1:26:10I don't know, as long as my daddy and that house is still around and all his friends and stuff,
1:26:10 > 1:26:13you never forget, actually, never forget.
1:26:13 > 1:26:14He got his good looks from me.
1:26:14 > 1:26:17No, he did not, he looked like me!
1:26:17 > 1:26:19- No, no, he looked like me. - Aye, he did.
1:26:19 > 1:26:23What do you call it? His cheekiness and his cockiness,
1:26:23 > 1:26:25he got from his Da.
1:26:25 > 1:26:28The looks and the brains came from me.
1:26:28 > 1:26:30Come here and get a picture with your mammy all dressed...
1:26:30 > 1:26:33Stand over here where you can see you.
1:26:35 > 1:26:37LAUGHTER
1:26:37 > 1:26:39He did dress up every now and again.
1:26:39 > 1:26:41Clubs, last card.
1:26:41 > 1:26:43We used to strip him
1:26:43 > 1:26:47and put a girl's dress on him and throw him out in the front garden!
1:26:47 > 1:26:50That was just cruel, that was wrong.
1:26:50 > 1:26:51SHE LAUGHS
1:27:23 > 1:27:26And we won a wee penguin in Spain one year
1:27:26 > 1:27:32and we said if Aaron couldn't come on family holidays with us, the penguin would come.
1:27:32 > 1:27:36So that penguin has been to Spain...
1:27:36 > 1:27:40It's sailed down the Nile, it's been to the Valley of the Kings,
1:27:40 > 1:27:42you mention it, it's been there.
1:27:43 > 1:27:46Any time we go on holiday or anything, he comes.
1:27:46 > 1:27:49I know it's silly and...
1:27:52 > 1:27:56..but he loved it, he thought it was a brilliant idea.
1:27:56 > 1:27:59And he used to phone up and say when we were going on holiday,
1:27:59 > 1:28:00"You're taking Pingu."
1:28:00 > 1:28:04And I'd say, "Yep, we're taking Pingu."
1:28:04 > 1:28:06It even came to Wootton Bassett with us.
1:28:06 > 1:28:09Even though nobody else knew.
1:28:11 > 1:28:14But it was there.
1:28:14 > 1:28:16There it was.
1:28:16 > 1:28:22And we'll carry on taking it everywhere with us.
1:28:23 > 1:28:26Cos, if we can't take him, we'll take it.
1:28:26 > 1:28:29And that's our memories of him with us.
1:29:03 > 1:29:05Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
1:29:05 > 1:29:07E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk