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LONDON - Two young men, one from Ripon in Yorkshire, one from Caterham in Surrey. Both died far from home, fighting the Taleban in Afghanistan. And both are heroes.
The difference between them is that the soldier from Ripon, Corporal Bryan Budd, of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, has been offi-cially declared a hero. Last week he was posthumously awarded Britain's highest military honour for bravery, the Victoria Cross.
In August he carried out a single-handed attack on a group of Taleban who had pinned down his squad, wounding several, in a cornfield near Sangin. It is the first posthumous VC since the 1982 Falklands war.
Royal Marine Richard Watson, 23, of 42 Commando, died on Tuesday near Now Zad, another town in northern Helmand province. He was hit while on a foot patrol, which became involved in a fight with the Taleban. Although evacuated by helicopter to Camp Bastion, the British base in Helmand, he died.
Because of the way British losses in Afghanistan or Iraq are announced, it was easy to miss the news of Watson's death. Experience has taught the Ministry of Defence that it is better to disclose the loss of a soldier as quickly as possible, along with some details of the unit and location. It then shuts down all contact between troops in the same area and their homes, to stop the name leaking out before the soldier's family can be formally notified.
For the relatives of those in combat zones, this means an agonising wait for a possible knock on the door. It is an ordeal that few among the public would understand, or even be aware of, because all that is likely to appear in news bulletins or the press at this stage is a one-line announcement that a soldier has been killed.
When the name emerges a day or two later, with some details of the circumstances, it is often the first that many will have heard of it. The piecemeal way in which the details are divulged means it often gets less overall prominence than it might deserve.
So it was with Watson and the tribute to him from his mother, Tania. From her home in Caterham, she said: "In or out of his uniform, Richard was and remains our hero - a loving son, dedicated brother and devoted boyfriend.
"He brought so much joy and happiness to our home, which now feels cold and empty without the warmth and love of my son. It is impossible to accept that such a wonderful human being is no longer here with us."
In most reports, some of her words appeared alongside stories about the VC awarded to Budd.
It is a matter of pure chance whether soldiers will ever find themselves in the situation that faced the 29-year-old Budd on August 20, or how they will respond if they do.
About two dozen soldiers were in a cornfield when the corporal spotted about four Taleban fighters 40m away, and led his section on a flanking manoeuvre to try to cut them off. But they were spotted, and came under withering fire.
"One lad got a bullet in the shoulder, another was shot in the nose," another soldier told the Sun. "Everyone was kneeling or lying down, trying to take cover. It was mayhem. That's when Bryan made his move.
"He got up and rushed straight through the field in the direction of the Taleban, just 20m away. Straight afterwards, the enemy's fire lessened, and allowed the rest of his section to withdraw to safety."
Lance Corporal Matt Carse, of the Royal Military Police, was in the same action. "Just the day before, I had been fighting next to Bryan Budd," he said. Afterwards they had talked, and the military policeman learned that Budd was about to become a father again. The next time Carse saw his friend was when his section was sent in to recover his body.
"We were continually taking fire - the bullets were millimetres away from our faces," he said. "Rockets were landing in the canal next to us, causing huge splashes." When Budd's body was found, three dead insurgents were lying beside him.
On Friday the corporal's 23-year-old widow, Lorena Budd, a clerk in the Royal Artillery, received the VC on his behalf, and paid tribute to him, saying: "Bryan will always be remembered by me as a loving husband and father to our two beautiful daughters, Isabelle and Imogen." Imogen was born a month after his death.
Another 133 service personnel were honoured for bravery at the same time as Budd. They included a member of his regiment, Corporal Mark Wright, who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for trying to save comrades trapped in a minefield, and Private Michelle Norris, the first female recipient of the Military Cross, who gave first aid to her commander while under sniper fire in al-Amara, southern Iraq, in June.
It is not that Marine Watson, the latest casualty, was any less brave; anyone who goes out on patrol in places such as Iraq or Afghanistan needs steady nerves. It is just that there are fewer people to record his bravery.
So what kind of person was he? Both his commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Matt Holmes, and a classmate, Paul Martynuik, remembered him as an ebullient character who probably took things a bit far at times.
Watson loved to play the joker, said Holmes, but "nevertheless had a selfless and diligent work ethic ... Richie radiated enthusiasm for his work and was inspirational, leading his young team from the front into hostile territory. He had already made his mark within his fighting company as a natural leader and candidate for promotion."
Martynuik said his friend, a former cadet who joined the Marines 18 months ago, "liked to mess around a bit at school. But he was still in all the top sets, got good grades and did really well. You could see that he was just the type of person who would end up in the armed forces."
The last time they met was a few months ago in Croydon, when he was on leave. "He seemed really happy. It's just a real shock to see this happen to someone you were at school with."
In a society where no one below pensionable age remembers conscription, this is the effect of casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan: a succession of private tragedies, felt by family and friends. The honoured few, like Bryan Budd, will be remembered by the nation as a whole, but the death of Richard Watson is more typical.
- INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
