Tributes to Soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Two soldiers from the 3rd Battallion The Yorkshire Regiment who were killed in Afghanistan on 15 September have been named. They were Sergeant Gareth Thursby from Skipton and Private Thomas Wroe from Huddersfield. They were shot and killed by a rogue Afghan Local Policeman in the Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand Province.

Sergeant Gareth David Thursby from Skipton, North Yorkshire was born in 1982. He attended South Craven School in Skipton before joining the British Army in 1999. After completing his training in early 2000, he joined 1st Battalion The Duke of Wellington's Regiment. His first deployment was to Kosovo in 2003 followed by Iraq in 2005. He passed the Section Commander's Battle Course to qualify for a posting to the Army Training Regiment in Pirbright as an instructor. Subsequently, he returned to the 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Duke of Wellington's) as a section commander. In October 2010 he was promoted to sergeant and assumed his role as a platoon sergeant in Alma Company.

He was 29-years-old and is survived by his wife, Louise, and two children, Joshua and Ruby.

Private Thomas James Wroe was born in Huddersfield in 1994. He joined the Army in 2010 and attended the Army Foundation College at Harrogate. He completed his training in 2011 and joined 3 YORKS. He was assigned to 3 Platoon, Alma Company as a Rifleman and completed demanding pre-deployment training, including qualifying as a Team Medic. Private Wroe spent several weeks working and training with the Battalion Rear Operations Group in the United Kingdom until he turned 18 years, deploying to join the rest of his Company on Operation HERRICK 16 on 1 July 2012.

He survived by his parents, Michael and Claire, and sister Demi, from Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.