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  Family of soldier shot in Afghanistan: 'This has devastated all of us' |
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 | Reported by guardian.co.uk
on Wednesday, 4 November 2009
(2 weeks ago) |
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One of the five soldiers killed in Afghanistan todaywas a father of two young boys who had been in the army for more than 20 years.Relatives and friends of Sergeant Matthew Telford said the 37-year-old, a long-serving guardsman in the Grenadiers, had only flown out to Afghanistan last month for a tour of duty with the Royal Military Police.Telford's uncle, William Ferrand, said the sergeant came from a military family in Grimsby and had "absolutely loved" his work training Afghan military and police in Helmand."My sister came round to me last night around 10pm with her husband and gave me the news and I knew immediately what it was," he said.
Asked his thoughts on Sgt Telford's deployment, he said: "Nobody wants their family to go out there, but it's what he wanted to do.
It was his job and he absolutely loved it.
But it has devastated all of us."Telford's wife, Kerry, and her sons, aged four and nine, are being consoled by other family members, amid a stream of messages.
Posts to the Grimsby Telegraph described "Mattie" as a giant of man who was also loving, caring and kind.Ferrand added: "His two sons are going to be devastated and will miss their father.
Whatever Kerry wants we will as a family make sure we do as much as we can to help her."Telford signed up with the army at the first possible opportunity, when he was 16, and kept his family posted about his work in Helmand.
In a message to his brother-in-law last week, he said he was "in the thick of it".A friend of Telford's, Richard Heron, said: "I don't think he could wait to get back out there because he was a soldier's soldier."Flags flew at half-mast in Aldershot, where two of the other three Grenadier Guards had connections - one based in the long-standing garrison town and the other with family nearby.The chief executive of the local Rushmoor council, Andrew Lloyd, said: "Military losses are felt very deeply indeed here, because there is a deep sense of pride from the association with the army.
The families are part of the community."The two other victims are known to have been members of the Royal Military Police, which is based in Southwick, Hampshire.
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