Father pays tribute to soldier Sarah

Jun 20 2008 by Ben Guy, The Journal

THE family of a North woman soldier killed while serving in Afghanistan have paid tribute to an “amazing person”.

Sarah Bryant, 26, was killed along with three male soldiers in a roadside bomb attack in Helmand province on Tuesday.

Corporal Bryant, of Cotehill, Cumbria, was due to finish her tour of duty late next month.

Leading the tributes, her father Des Feely said: “There are so many people both in the military and locally where she grew up that are not only going to be touched by this but also devastated at the loss of such a beautiful girl.

“Nothing much seems to have changed since the days of Churchill’s famous speech. Never have so many owed so much to so few.

“We truly have lost the ‘Angel of the North’.

“God bless to Sarah.”

Mr Feely, 55, added that the last time he had spoken to his daughter was on Fathers’ Day.

He said: “We said the usual stuff you say on a day like that.

“She said it was the first time I had had a Fathers’ Day call from Afghanistan and as it turned out it was the last.

“I then received an email from her a couple of days ago. It was to tell me that she and her husband had been promoted to sergeant.”

In a statement, Cpl Bryant’s husband Carl, also a corporal, said: “Although I am devastated beyond words at the death of my beautiful wife Sarah, I am so incredibly proud of her.

“She was an awesome soldier who died doing the job that she loved. My wife knew the risks, she was there because she wanted to be, and she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“She was funny, kind and the most amazing person to be around. I will never stop being thankful for the time I spent as her husband. I love her now and always, with all my heart, as do her proud parents, friends and family.

“My wife was a truly special person who died a hero. Sarah, as with all our fallen, must never be forgotten.”

Cpl Bryant’s mother, Maureen Feely, said that her daughter had paid the “ultimate price”.

She added: “She gave it everything and she paid the ultimate price for that, but I’m so, so proud of what she’s done and what she achieved.

“I just hope everybody remembers her that way that she was.”

Suicide bomber killed soldiers

AN inquest has opened into the death of a Sunderland soldier killed while serving in Afghanistan.

Private Nathan Cuthbertson, 19, was one of three soldiers killed while serving on foot patrol in Helmand province on June 8. Pte David Murray, 19, and Pte Daniel Gamble, 22, were also killed in the attack.

They were flown into RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire for a repatriation ceremony attended by loved ones earlier this week.

Pte Gamble was from Uckfield, East Sussex, and Pte Murray was born in Dumfries. All three were from 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (2 Para). Coroner’s officer Ken Evill told the court in Trowbridge, Wiltshire: "It was about 10.58 hours on June 8 while carrying out a routine foot patrol in Helmand province, that the men were subjected to small arms fire and grenade airburst rocket-propelled attack. It is suspected that a suicide-borne improvised explosive device approached them and detonated. As a result, the three received fatal injuries."

Coroner David Masters asked if the device was "strapped to the individual", and Mr Evill confirmed that it was.