War victim's mother talks of pain

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/hampshire/6539275.stm

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The mother of a 19-year-old soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has described the pain of her loss.

Pte Eleanor Dlugosz died along with Cpl Kris O'Neill, 2nd Lt Joanna Yorke Dyer and Kingsman Adam James Smith in the blast near Basra on Thursday.

Pte Dlugosz, from Southampton, was a medic who was tasked with accompanying patrols.

Sally Veck, Pte Dlugosz' mother, told BBC News: "I would give anything, anything to have her back."

'Guts and determination'

She added: "Everybody knows that, but on the other hand this is what she wanted and we all had to support her.

"She wouldn't stand back at all. She wanted to be in there if there was an emergency."

Pte Dlugosz had just completed her Class 1 Medics Course and had returned to Iraq in March.

Everybody is touched by that girl and I was proud to be her mum Sally Veck

Her Commanding Officer, Lt Col Martin Toney, praised "her guts and determination".

He said: "She returned to Iraq as a Class 1 Medic and almost immediately began patrolling in the city, first from Basra Palace and then latterly from the Contingency Operating Base."

Sally Veck described her daughter's "special" childhood growing up on a farm alongside horses and chickens.

She said: "We didn't have much money, but she knew that it had been special.

"Everybody is touched by that girl and I was proud to be her mum."