Families welcome home Grenadier Guards 27.09.12

Eighty one soldiers from Inkerman Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards are back in the UK following their six-month tour in Afghanistan.

They arrived in Aldershot last night and were met by family and friends.

As the coaches draw up at Lille Barracks there was a feeling of relief amongst the families gathered here to meet their loved ones.

Among them was Alan Whybrow, whose son Guardsman Lewis Whybrow stepped on an IED whilst out on patrol. Luckily a water-filled ditch absorbed the worst of the blast, allowing him to escape serious injury.

1st Battalion Grenadier Guards spent their tour in Nahr-e-Saraj -- one of the most hostile operating environments in Afghanistan.

Major Dominic Alkin, Commander of Inkerman Company, said all their thoughts were with those families whose loved ones did not make it home: Lance Corporal Duane Groom, Guardsman Karl Whittle, Guardsman Jamie Shadrake, Lance Corporal James Ashworth and Guardsman Michael Roland.