The wider 見解（をとる）: The last pictures taken by the youngest British 兵士 to die in Afghanistan

By Mail on Sunday Reporter
Updated:

Soon after Rifleman William Aldridge became the youngest British 兵士 to die in Afghanistan, his mother told the Army that the only one of his personal 所持品 she really cared about was his camera.

‘I knew he was a keen photographer and that something of him might have 生き残るd,’ said Lucy Aldridge.

At first, she was told it had been lost.

Rifleman Will Aldridge's final photographs

Then, without explanation, it turned up a week later ‘pretty 粉砕するd up’.

The camera had been in 18-year-old William’s pocket when he was killed by a Taliban 爆弾 近づく Sangin in Helmand on July 10.

He and his comrades had 急ぐd to the 援助（する） of 兵士s 負傷させるd by one 装置, when a second was 爆発させるd.

Rifleman Will Aldridge's last photos

Miraculously, the memory card was 無傷の.

‘I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see every piece of his life,’ said Mrs Aldridge, of Bromyard, Herefordshire. ‘It seemed as though he was 株ing it with me.’

She 設立する more than 300 photographs, each one now 持つ／拘留するing its own poignancy.

Rifleman Will Aldridge's final photographs

‘I noticed a 抱擁する contrast in his 外見 from photos in one of the big bases and later when he was on patrol,’ said Mrs Aldridge, 41, who has two other sons, George, six, and Archie, four.

‘In the later picture you can see the weariness etched on his 直面する. These boys dealt with death every day.’

She says the images have given her much 慰安. ‘William was my son and best friend. He became this wonderful, lovable human 存在 who was always ready to help others.’

Rifleman Will Aldridge's final photographs


She 解放（する）d the pictures for the 開始する，打ち上げる of her charity Afghan Heroes, which she 始める，決める up with the six other women who lost sons on July 9 and 10.

The charity 目的（とする）s to support the families of the fallen 同様に as those serving on the 前線 line. To 寄付する, visit www.afghanheroes.org.uk.

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