Funeral Held for Raf Reservist, Killed in Afghanistan Aged 51

Mourners yesterday filled a Nottingham church for the funeral of the oldest British serviceman to have been killed in the current military operations in Afghanistan or Iraq. RAF reservist Gary Thompson, a 51-year-old managing director and father of five daughters, was killed with fellow senior aircraft man Graham Livingstone, 23, when his Land Rover hit a roadside bomb outside Kandahar airbase in southern Afghanistan on April 13. Two other servicemen were injured in the blast.

Before he flew out to Afghanistan with the job of protecting the air base, he told the Rutland and Stamford Mercury: "I have five daughters, three of whom are at university. I want women in Afghanistan to be given the same opportunity that my daughters have had. It means I can come back and say I have played my part in trying to make that happen."

His daughters are Laurie, 24, Aimee, 22, Jordan, 20, Jade, 17, and 16-year-old Kelly. Laurie yesterday told the congregation at St Jude's church in Mapperley: "The last thing my dad said to me in his letter was that he couldn't wait till May so he could be home with the ones he loved. It is with utter disbelief and sadness that my dad will not be coming home in May, but I know he will be with the ones he loves right now and always will be." She added: "I am sure that my sisters would agree with me when I say that we would not be the women we are today without his love and encouragement, and we are all so proud to say that he was our dad."

Thompson's coffin was draped in the Union flag during the funeral, which was held with full military honors. He was a keen rugby player and on top of the hearse there was a wreath in the shape of a rugby ball. At 1pm a Harrier jet from his home base at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland flew low over the church.

He had married his wife Jacqui, 42, in the church. Yesterday's funeral was conducted by the Rev Stephen Silvester, who had also conducted their wedding. Mourners had been asked to bring bags of sweets to the funeral as Thompson said they often helped him in the dry conditions of Afghanistan. They will be flown out to servicemen and women abroad. His sister-in-law Collette Byrne said last week: "It was very dusty in the desert of southern Afghanistan and he found that eating sweets helped him and his fellow servicemen cope."

Livingstone's funeral took place on Tuesday in Blackwood, South Lanarkshire. A Celtic fan, he had a two-year-old son, Kyle. He joined the RAF after serving in the Marines and was deployed on operations in Iraq as well as Afghanistan.