Sapper Jamie Larcombe starts trip home
- From: AAP
- February 23, 2011
KANGAROO Island soldier Jamie Larcombe, shot dead in Afghanistan, is making his final journey home.
The 21-year-old combat engineer was farewelled from Afghanistan by colleagues and mates during a moving memorial service at the Australian base at Tarin Kowt overnight.
Sapper Larcombe was shot and killed on Saturday when his patrol was attacked by insurgents in the Mirabad Valley in Oruzgan province.
He was the 23rd Australian to die in Afghanistan since 2001.
At the memorial service, Lieutenant Colonel Darren Huxley, commander of the Mentoring Task Force, said Sapper Larcombe was a young man who epitomised the core values of an Australian soldier.
"Mateship is what defines the best in an Aussie Digger and Jamie was amongst our best," he told the assembled soldiers.
"Jamie was a volunteer for his country, as we all here are. He knew the risks of his chosen profession and he accepted them. He shared the danger and austerity, but mostly, I am sure, he was driven by his desire to protect and support his mates."
Fellow combat engineer Sapper Trent Wicker said "Larko" was a genuine mate who held his family and friends close.
"He was the kind of guy who was always keen to go down to the pub, have a beer with his mates, pick you up when you were feeling down," he said.
Engineer Commander Major Nick Bosio said Sapper Larcombe was a genuine character who would be sorely missed.
"When he spoke to you he looked you in the eye, a quality that belongs to a truly genuine individual. That was Jamie, that was our Larko," he said.
At the conclusion of the memorial service, more than 2,000 soldiers from six nations stood side-by-side to pay their final respects as Sapper Larcombe's casket was loaded on a RAAF C-130 Hercules for the first part of his journey home.
He will be flown to the Australian base in the United Arab Emirates and then back to Australia.
