The bodies of the first British servicemen to die in the Iraq war arrived back in the UK at the weekend.
As the RAF plane carrying the 10 bodies touched down at RAF Brize Norton airfield on Saturday, their families gathered outside the Oxfordshire base's main passenger terminal.
Three senior chaplains from the armed forces stood at the rear of the giant C17 cargo plane as the Union Flag-draped coffins were carried one by one from the hold.
A band from the Royal Marines Three Commando Brigade began to play a sombre Handel composition as the first body - that of Royal Navy mechanic Ian Seymour - was brought out.
The bearer party of six from HMS Collingwood in Portsmouth marched with the coffin on their shoulders to a waiting hearse, escorted by a senior naval officer.
The coffins emerged in order of the seniority of each service, and then the seniority of each individual serviceman. Each of the dedicated bearer parties were taken from the dead man's service.
Oxfordshire coroner Mr Nicholas Gardiner said yesterday that the bodies would not be released to their families until completion of all the examinations, some of which concern identification. He said he hoped all the bodies would be released within the next fortnight.
A curtained viewing room was set up beside the mortuary to allow the families to view the bodies or sit with the coffins. None of the families chose to view the bodies, with only one asking to sit with the coffin.
The coffins of the Royal Marines were carried by members of Three Commando Brigade, those from the Royal Artillery by members of 29 Commando Regiment and those from the RAF by members of the Queens Colour Squadron and instructors from RAF Halton.
The Duke of York and Defence Secretary Mr Geoff Hoon attended the ceremony with senior military and defence officials.
The mood of the ceremony was low key to reflect the fact that the war continues.Apart from the music, the ceremony was conducted in almost complete silence.
As each coffin was placed in its hearse, military personnel stood to salute.
The Royal Marines Band, led by Lieutenant Colonel Chris Davis, played funeral marches by Beethoven and Mendelssohn.
The first eight coffins brought from the aircraft were those of the servicemen who died when a US helicopter they were aboard crashed south of the Kuwait border just over a week ago.
The final two contained the bodies of Flight Lieutenant Dave Williams and Flight Lieutenant Kevin Main from the Royal Air Force. They died when their RAF GR4 Tornado aircraft was engaged near the Kuwaiti border by a Patriot missile battery yesterday week.
After the final coffin was placed in a hearse, the band stopped playing and marched slowly away. The military and defence officials and families of the dead servicemen filed back into the main passenger terminal as the three chaplains walked back to join them.
The RAF flag above the passenger terminal had been flying at half mast for the duration of the ceremony.
All of the bodies were taken to a temporary mortuary on the airbase where the inquests into their deaths will be opened later by the Oxfordshire coroner. - (PA)