Town honors the fallen one last time

Matt Cardy / Getty Images Europe

A cortege of hearses carrying the bodies of eight British soldiers killed during the bloodiest 24 hours for British forces since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 pass hundreds of mourners lining the streets of Wootton Bassett on on July 14, 2009.

By Peter Jeary, NBC News

LONDON -- At sunset Wednesday, a simple ceremony will mark the end of an English town's remarkable tribute to Britain's fallen fighters.

For four years, the people of Wootton Bassett have lined the streets to quietly honor the repatriation of servicemen and women who died overseas in the line of duty.

When repatriation flights began in April 2007 at the Royal Air Force base in Wootton Bassett, a dozen or so townspeople, including members of the British equivalent of the Veterans Association, decided to stand to attention as the coffins passed through the town's main street.

This impromptu display of respect captured the imagination of others and soon hundreds of people began to line-up in silence, usually including family and friends of the deceased.

Anne Bevis of the Wootton Bassett branch of the British Legion said members were astonished at how support for the tribute grew so quickly.

"We cannot understand what it feels like to lose a loved one, but this was our way to show respect, one small way to help friends and family cope with their grief," she said.

"It escalated beyond what anyone could have thought, not just in the town itself, but in the villages all along the procession route and beyond.  It really captured the hearts of the nation."

More than 150 processions carrying the coffins of some 345 military personnel who died serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have passed through Wootton Bassett’s streets.

Starting Thursday, flights will again land at the Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton 50 miles away. A new repatriation center has been built at the airbase, the traditional destination of these flights.  So on Wednesday evening the people of Wootton Bassett will hold a special ceremony during which a British Union Flag that marked the last procession on Aug. 18 is lowered for the last time and then taken to Oxfordshire where Brize Norton is located.

Wootton Bassett’s mayor, Paul Heaphy, said tonight's ceremony will be in keeping with the recent tradition.

He called it "a symbolic gesture to those who may see fallen service personnel repatriated in the future. This final gathering will remember those who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and reflect on a profoundly significant era for the people of Wootton Bassett."

Some worry that changing the location of the ceremony will spell the end of a moving, and to many, vitally important modern tradition.

Andrew Winning / Reuters

British Army Lieutenant Daniel John Clack's fiancee Amy Tinley (second from left), mother Sue Clack (left), and brother James gather just before his coffin is driven through Wootton Bassett on Aug. 18. Clack, 24, of the 1st Battalion The Rifles was killed while serving in Afghanistan.

Although military repatriation is the responsibility of the British Ministry of Defence, the Royal British Legion has traditionally taken a close interest in the way Britain's military dead are honored.  So the organization worked with authorities on a new procession route from the Brize Norton airbase which, they hope, will encourage public tributes like those paid at Wootton Bassett.

Tonight will be a chance for people from around the country to pay their respects, Bevis said.

"We have brought the sacrifices being made to the attention of the whole country," she said.  "We have done it without making a big show, but quietly, with dignity, and without intruding into the grief of others."

The town will itself be honored later this year, when it will be renamed as Royal Wootton Bassett, the first town in more than a century to receive the "Royal" title. When announcing the change of name, British Prime Minister David Cameron, called it "an enduring symbol of the nation's admiration... and gratitude."

Because of the people of Wootton Bassett the relationship between the British military and public has changed, bringing the two closer. A town, united in mourning, has found a way of uniting wider communities.

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