FAMILY and friends will gather at a village church to pay tribute to a Hampshire-born Royal Marine who was one of the latest victims of the Iraq war.

Corporal Ben Nowak died when the boat in which he was travelling was blown apart. It happened on Remembrance Sunday.

Ben was one of four soldiers killed during a patrol in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in Basra city when a bomb was detonated near their boat.

The popular 27-year-old was about a week into his second tour of Iraq.

A funeral service has already taken place but now his family, who live in Bursledon, are planning a thanksgiving service to celebrate his life.

It will be held at St John's Church, Locks Heath, on Tuesday, December 12, at midday.

After the formal service family and friends will gather at the Spinnaker, Swanwick, where there will be further tributes to the brave Marine who twice volunteered to go to Iraq.

His father James Nowak and stepmum Vanda have arranged the service at St John's because this was the family's local church.

Ben had many friends in the area and there is an open invitation for them to attend and pay their last respects.