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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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British Town Honors War Dead With Silent Farewells

Impromptu silence as soldier's hearse passed grew into tradition

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(Newser) – A lone man's silent salute to a military hearse grew into a tradition that now involves thousands who line the streets of a small British town, the New York Times reports. The bodies of UK troops killed in Afghanistan pass through Wootton Bassett on the way from the nearby air base to a military morgue, and the entire town falls silent to pay tribute as the hearses pass.

Villagers say the displays of respect, which include many military veterans, grew naturally after the first man's salute. They insist they're just doing what anybody else would do. A Royal Air Force veteran said battalions returning from war are given parades welcoming them home. “But these lads have nothing,” he said. “This is their parade.”

Old soldiers salute as the funeral cortege carrying the coffins of three British soldiers killed in Afghanistan passes through Wootton Bassett, England, earlier this year.
Old soldiers salute as the funeral cortege carrying the coffins of three British soldiers killed in Afghanistan passes through Wootton Bassett, England, earlier this year.   (AP Photo / Dominic Lipinski)
The body of Major Paul Harding is repatriated from Iraq to Britain at the Royal Air Force base in Lyneham, England.
The body of Major Paul Harding is repatriated from Iraq to Britain at the Royal Air Force base in Lyneham, England.   (AP Photo/WO2 Shane Wilkinson/ho)
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I think a lot of other parts of the country aren't really aware of the war. They see it on the news or the papers. It's when you see them actually go past, and you see there are people in those coffins, that it makes you think.
- Wootton Bassett resident Carol Lacey

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