Bikers' tribute at soldier funeral<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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The funeral cortege of a soldier killed in Afghanistan was flanked by scores of motorcyclists as hundreds of people attended his funeral. </o:p>
Corporal Tom Gaden died alongside two of his colleagues on February 25 after the vehicle they were travelling in was struck by an explosive.<o:p></o:p>
Hundreds of people spilled out on to the streets around Taunton's St Mary Magdalene Church to pay their final respects to Cpl Gaden.<o:p></o:p>
Cpl Gaden, along with Lance Corporal Paul Upton and Rifleman Jamie Gunn, all of 1st Battalion The Rifles, were on patrol in central Helmand Province when the explosive struck.<o:p></o:p>
A public announcement system played the funeral service to the people outside.<o:p></o:p>
Motorbikes had gathered in tribute to Cpl Gaden, a keen biker, and lined the streets as his coffin was driven through the town centre.<o:p></o:p>
Cpl Gaden's mother Judy had appealed to bikers in the town to join the procession.<o:p></o:p>
At the end of the service The Last Post and Reveille was sounded by military buglers and three volleys of shots were fired.<o:p></o:p>
Cpl Gaden's fiancee Amanda Butler is pregnant with the couple's second child, a boy due to be born on April 8. They also have a two-year-old daughter Lucy and Cpl Gaden was due to adopt Miss Butler's daughter, Kimberley, once they were married.<o:p></o:p>
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence is expected to name two other soldiers killed in an explosion in Afghanistan. The pair from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, serving with 1st Dragoon Guards, were killed in a blast in the Garmsir district of southern Helmand.<o:p></o:p>
Another sad loss of life and a loss to the biking community too.
RIP Corporal Gaden and comrades
I've just got back from the funeral it was indeed a very emotional morning and I was also very pleased at the turnout of bikers. He would have been very proud.
My sympathy goes to Cpl Gadens family and friends and I hope we don't see anymore funeral processions in Taunton.
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