Poignant scenes at repatriations

Mourners hug a after laying flowers on one of the hearses at Carterton. Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

Friends and family laid flowers on the hearses of, Lieutenant Andrew Robert Chesterman, of 3rd Battalion The Rifles, who was shot by enemy forces on August 9; Lance Corporal Matthew Smith, of the Corps of Royal Engineers, who died the following day; and Guardsman Jamie Shadrake, of the Reconnaissance Platoon, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, who was killed on Friday,. The procession passed through the Memorial Garden in Carterton in Oxfordshire.

The scene at Carterton, Oxfordshire Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

Friends and family lay flowers on the hearses of, Lieutenant Andrew Robert Chesterman, of 3rd Battalion The Rifles, who was shot by enemy forces on August 9; Lance Corporal Matthew Smith, of the Corps of Royal Engineers, who died the following day; and Guardsman Jamie Shadrake, of the Reconnaissance Platoon, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, who was killed on Friday,

Carterton today Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

ABOVE: Mourners comfort each other after laying flowers on the hearse of Lance Corporal Matthew Smith, of the Corps of Royal Engineers, as it passed through the Memorial Garden in Carterton. He and two other servicemen were repatriated at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

The funeral cortege at Carterton Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

VIDEO: The friends and family of three soldiers killed in Afghanistan paid emotional tributes to them today as their bodies were flown back to the UK. Divya Kohli reports from Carterton.