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Tragic soldier to be flown back home
THE body of a South Yorkshire soldier killed in Afghanistan just two weeks after becoming a father was due to be flown back to Britain today.
Rifleman Liam Maughan, aged 18, of Hatfield, Doncaster, was shot in a firefight against insurgents while on watch for his platoon in Afghanistan last weekend.
His fiancee gave birth to his son Jaden, who he never met, just two weeks before.
Read tribute to Liam and leave your own message in our book of condolence, click here
He did not live long enough to see a photograph of his son and was preparing to return home for two weeks of paternity leave when tragedy struck.
Liam was a member of Third Battalion The Rifles, whose members have been stationed in the notorious Sangin area of Helmand since September and are due to return home within weeks.
Liam's Company Serjeant Major, Warrant Officer Class 2 Paul Kelly, from Barnsley, said this death had cost the Army "a bright star of the future".
The body of the former Hatfield Visual Arts College pupil was to be flown to RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire, with four other fallen comrades today.
They died within the space of six days.
A private service was to be held at the air base's chapel before the
cortege was to drive through nearby Wootton Bassett where hundreds were expected to line the streets in tribute to the men who gave their lives for their country.
A tribute issued by his heartbroken relatives said: "Liam was a tall, handsome six-footer, with looks to melt the heart of any girl and make men envious. But he was also a son and a brother, a fianc and a father to his own son who he will now never meet.
"This cruel and premature departure from us leaves dreams unfulfilled,
potential unrealised and a massive irreparable hole in the lives of everyone who knew him."
Liam's devastated fiancee, Michaela Lindley, 18, has vowed to be the "best mum" to their newborn son.
In a message left on the Facebook social networking site she wrote: "I'll always love you and I'll be the best mum I can be to our son."
Last month Sheffield soldier Liam Riley, 21, died when he stepped on to a roadside bomb as he tried to save the life of comrade Lance Corporal Graham Shaw, 27, who had stepped on a similar device just moments before.
The soldiers, who both died, were members of the same patrol stationed in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, with the 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment.
Corporal Riley grew up in Beighton and went to Westfield School before moving to Killamarsh, north Derbyshire.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 04 February 2012
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