Funeral for Christopher Kershaw after Afghanistan bomb death

A Yorkshire soldier who died with five colleagues in a bomb attack in Afghanistan will be given a full military funeral later.

The funeral of Pte Christopher Kershaw, 19, will take place at Holy Trinity Parish Church at Idle, Bradford.

Following the service, Pte Kershaw will be buried in the church graveyard.

His mother Monica said it had been his dream to be in the Army and during their last phone conversation he had sounded happy.

She told BBC Look North: "He felt proud in his uniform, he absolutely loved his uniform.

"About 14 years old he started ironing his own uniform because I put a crease in the wrong way. He always stood up proudly in it."

Pte Kershaw died in an attack by the Taliban on an armoured vehicle in Helmand province on 6 March during his first tour of duty. He had been due to return home this week.

Mrs Kershaw said she had been worried when he had joined the Army but knew he was living his dream.

She said: "He knew about the dangers. I had discussed it with him and he said: 'It won't happen to me', but it has."

Pte Kershaw died alongside Cpl Jake Hartley, 20; Pte Anthony Frampton, 20; Pte Daniel Wade, 20, and Pte Daniel Wilford, 21, all also of 3 Yorks, and Sgt Nigel Coupe, 33, of 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.

The soldiers, who had only been in Afghanistan for a few weeks, were killed when their Warrior armoured vehicle was blown up by a large bomb about 25 miles north of the capital of Helmand province, Lashkar Gah.

The force of the Taliban attack - the deadliest single attack on British forces in Afghanistan since 2001 - turned the Warrior upside down and blew off its gun turret.