Another soldier killed

LAST Wednesday another beautiful young man, just 22 years old, was blown up in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device. His name was Richard Atkinson, a soldier of the Australian army, killed outright on patrol.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Feb 2011, 08:33 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 21:25 BST

He was due to be married in June and while born in Australia, was part of a family that originally hailed from Sussex and emigrated in the 1950s and 60s. He lived in Tasmania.

His great grandmother Becky retired to and eventually died in Bexhill. His great-great-great grandfather was lamplighter to Queen Victoria.

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One of his grandmothers emigrated to Australia at the age of 76 and our tribe there probably numbers 50 or 60, all healthy and strong.

Except now, Richard is gone - a terrible loss in a line of ancestors going back to at least 947AD. How many mothers lost their sons and how many fathers went to war and didn’t come home?

It is called the “theatre of war”, but it seems a frivolous term in the face of such loss. I am sad we will never know what Richard could have become.

On Tuesday last week he was a brave, bright loyal young man who was in Afghanistan because his mates were there and he wanted to learn a trade.

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He was looking forward to coming home to his family, coming home to the love that sustained him, but lost to a war we don’t really understand. We grieve at his passing, and all those who perish there.

Now he is there in our family tree. Peace be with you.

ANGIE WALL

Cornwall Road

Bexhill-on-Sea

Related topics:AfghanistanBexhill-on-SeaSussex