A SOLDIER who died in an ambush serving in Afganistan 13 years ago has been remembered at a special service at his village church.

As Wyedean towns and villages prepare to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, family, friends, former regimental comrades, service people, dignitaries, villagers and schoolchildren packed into Lea’s St John the Baptist Church to honour the memory of Lance Corporal Steven Sherwood, who gave his life serving his country on October 29, 2005, aged 24.

They heard how the brave soldier helped save the lives of his comrades as he lay mortally wounded, warning them where bullets were coming from so they could escape the gunfire.

Last Thursday’s (October 25) service, led by Rev David Howell, was organised by Ross and District Royal British Legion following a similar service for local man Private Timothy Jenkins, who was killed in the

Falklands War in 1982.

From next year, both of them will be remembered annually at a service that will also honour those who fought in the Korean War and the Chelsea Pensioners who were evacuated to Ross in the Second World War.

The service was attended by LCpl Sherwood’s parents Alan Sherwood and Sue Brain, Gulf War commander-in-chief General Peter de la Billiere, The Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire the Dowager Countess of Darnley, and Air Commodore Vivian Warrington, president of Ross RBL.

Pupils from Lea C of E Primary School, which LCpl Sherwood attended as a child, sang their own special version of All Things Bright and Beautiful, while former schoolmate Nic Willett

delivered a moving tribute to him.

“When someone you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure,” she told the service.

“We grew up in this village. We went to playgroup and school together. We tore around the village on our bikes for most of our summers together. It was a fabulous time to be young,” she recalled.

Every minute of the holidays was spent playing together, while looking out from the Malvern Hills on a school trip made them think “how big the the world seemed.”

The duo also attended John Kyrle School in Ross together and after leaving school, LCpl Sherwood was a regular visitor on leave.

“No one was prepared to lose him…” she said. “Talking about him and being able to enjoy my memories of him has taken a long time… We’ve all had big events where we’d have loved to be able to talk to him, for him to be there.

“But we were lucky we had him… I’m lucky that he was one of my best friends, and most of all I’m lucky that I got to tell him that I loved him.”

LCpl Sherwood, who was nicknamed Shirley by his comrades, was serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry when he was killed in an ambush on a patrol in a remote mountainous part of Afghanistan.

Brigadier (retired) Martin Vine OBE, who served in the Gloucestershire Regiment, told the service: “The manner of Shirley’s death demonstrated his courage and his selflessness. Known to be a good man in a tight spot, he displayed those qualities to the last.

“As the vehicle was engaged by the gunman, he was mortally wounded, but he cried out to his team, warning them where the bullets were coming from. This helped the driver to escape the ambush.

“Shirley never forgot his mates to the last and he will never be forgotten in our regiment.

“His legacy is to inspire successive generations of young riflemen who, like him, are prepared to risk their lives to protect our freedoms and make the world a safer place.”

They were undertaking a peacekeeping and development role in the “most remote and inaccessible” parts of the country, “winning the battle of hearts and minds” by helping villagers with well digging, irrigation, road

building, crops and medical support.

The first elections for 30 years had taken place just a month before LCpl Sherwood’s patrol was attacked, and the death of the “fine young soldier” signalled the start of a country wide insurgency that led to more than 450 British service people losing their lives in the next decade, he added.

A poem, The Last Inspection, was also read out by his comrade Steven White.

The service concluded beside LCpl Sherwood’s churchyard grave with the playing of the Last Post and the laying of wreaths led by the Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire.

Standards were paraded under deputy county parade marshal Ian Hedges by Ross-on-Wye and District RBL (Richard Ceci), Lea and District RBL (John Walker, RAF Association), Hereford City North Branch RBL (Ray Farmer), WRENS Association (Chris Walker), Hereford Ex-Services Association (Steven Cole), The Royal Engineers Association (Derek Griffiths), and The Rifles Association (Pete McCrann).

Ross RBL chairman Graham Aplin said it was a “poignant moment” that so many had come together to remember Steven so many years after his death, and the branch would remember him annually in future years.

All those service people who made the final sacrifice will be remembered at war memorials across Wyedean at 11am on Sunday, November 11, the exact 100th anniversary of the armistice.