MoD names dead soldier

Tue Nov 17 2009 20:23:13

The Ministry of Defence has named the British soldier killed in Afghanistan on Sunday. He was 28-year-old Corporal Loren Owen Christopher Marlton-Thomas.

Cpl Marlton-Thomas was mortally wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED) while conducting a route search to clear devices in the vicinity of Patrol Base Sandford, in the Gereshk area of Helmand Province.

He was deployed on Operation Herrick as a Royal Engineer search team commander.

Having joined the Army in 1998, he served in a number of units and completed operational tours of Northern Ireland and Iraq.

Cpl Marlton-Thomas’s wife Nicola said: â€Å"Loren was Army barmy right back to being a Cadet. He did the job he loved and paid the ultimate price for his friends, comrades and country. We are proud to say we knew and loved him. A true hero in our eyes - you may be gone but you will never ever be forgotten�.

The Secretary of State for Defence, Bob Ainsworth said: "He was a skilled engineer and a first-rate soldier, and highly respected by the men he led. His work in Afghanistan saved lives and his death is a huge loss to the Royal Engineers and to the Army. It is, of course, his family who will feel the greatest loss at this time, and it is with them that my deepest sympathies lie."

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