TEARS streamed down the devastated faces of the family of Hampshire Army medic Private Eleanor Dlugosz as their daughter's body arrived back in the UK.
The 19-year-old soldier's coffin was draped in the Union flag after a solemn flight back from Iraq on a military transport plane.
Pte Dlugosz - known to family and friends as Ella - was killed with three colleagues in a roadside blast near Basra last Thursday.
The bodies were flown home after British troops in Iraq held a sunset ceremony to bid farewell to their friends.
Pte Charlie Butler, one of Ella's friends, was part of the repatriation crew who acted as pallbearers when her coffin was carried on to the plane.
She called Ella a wonderful, supportive friend, and said members of the Royal Army Corps would continue their fight against terrorism in memory of her.
Yesterday, at a private ceremony on the runway at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, friends and family stood shoulder to shoulder as with great dignity the coffins were marched off the RAF Hercules plane.
The coffins were then walked slowly past the waiting family members before being taken into the care of the Wiltshire coroner.
Ella's family said they were too upset to talk, though last weekend her mother, Sally Veck, spoke of the pride she had for her daughter and what she and the British Army had achieved in Iraq.
Ms Veck, from Swanmore, also said her daughter knew the dangers her job entailed, but that she had always wanted to help people and that nothing could have stopped her from fighting on the front line.
Ella died when the Warrior armoured vehicle she was in was targeted by Iraqi insurgents who set off a massive bomb underneath the vehicle.
She served with the Royal Army Medical Corps and had recently qualified as a medic. She was with soldiers from the Duke of Lancaster's Battalion when she died.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article