Hundreds lined the streets of Huddersfield on Saturday to honour their heroes.
More than 100 soldiers from the 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment exercised their freedom to march through the town.
Led by the West Yorkshire Fire Service Band, the regiment marched with ‘bayonets fixed and colours flying’ as the freedom charter allows.
The freedom parade in Huddersfield on Saturday morning followed by Halifax in the afternoon completed parades through eight Yorkshire towns and cities in four days.
It was nine months since the last Huddersfield parade, held to welcome the troops back from Afghanistan.
The parades were the last ones before the 3rd Battalion merges with the 2nd Battalion next week.
The new regiment will become the 1st Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment.
The parade was an emotional occasion for many with regimental families still mourning the loss of five Huddersfield soldiers.
The fallen heroes remembered were: Lance-Cpl Graham Shaw, of Golcar; Cpl Jake Hartley, of New Mill; Pte Anton Frampton, of Longwood; Pte Daniel Wilford, of Cowlersley; and Pte Tom Wroe, of Meltham.
Among those lining the streets were Mick and Claire Wroe, parents of 18-year-old Tom, along with his sister Demi, 14.
Mick, a former soldier himself, choked back the tears and admitted: “It’s still really hard coming to parades like this knowing your lad should be coming through here.
“We are here to support the others. It’s good they are all home safe but we don’t know what’s next for them.”
Rifleman Tom died alongside 29-year-old dad-of-two Sgt Gareth Thursby when a rogue Afghan policeman they went to help opened fire.
The attack happened at a security checkpoint in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province on September 15 last year.
Mick added: “It’s another sad but proud day and we are coping by keeping busy.
“It’s not yet 12 months but we have had a lot of support from the Army and our family and friends.”
Mick has organised a second parachute jump for next month in memory of Tom.
So far 15 people have signed up and money raised will go to local good causes in Meltham.
The soldiers, in full uniform, met in Beck Road and marched from St John’s Road for a 20-minute ceremony in New Street, before marching around the town centre and back to Beck Road.
Fortunately for the soldiers the intense heat and sunshine of recent days relented, though beads of sweat could still be seen trickling from beneath caps.
The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment was granted the freedom of the former County Borough of Huddersfield in 1952.
This became the Freedom of Kirklees in 1974 and the honour was passed to the Yorkshire Regiment on formation in 2006.
The soldiers were received into the town by the Mayor of Kirklees Clr Martyn Bolt and the Lord-Lieutenant of West Yorkshire Dr Ingrid Roscoe. Clr Bolt paid tribute to the regiment, which has a long and proud history and roots embedded in the old West Riding of Yorkshire.
“Just as Huddersfield is proud of the Dukes, now the whole of Kirklees is proud of its connection with the Yorkshire Regiment,” he said.
“We are so very proud of you all, for your dedication, dignity and duty.
“You are such brave people and we owe you an enormous debt of gratitude.
“We have joined you in mourning your losses and, undoubtedly, you will face challenges in the future and I wish you well.”
Major Malcolm Birkett, of 3 Yorks, said the regiment was proud to exercise its right of freedom and added: “It is always reassuring to know there is always a home for us in Huddersfield.
“While the 3rd Battalion is about to become the 1st Battalion we will always remember where we belong, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
“There will be no change in our hearts from where we belong or where we come from.”
Families gathered excitedly to see their loved ones in the parade.
Heavily-pregnant Sadie Cooper, 23, from Marsden, brought two-year-old Isaac to see his dad Jason Evans, 22, of Rawthorpe.
Jason’s mum Jane Kilgallon, 45, said her son’s six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan last year was tough.
“It was the longest six months of our life,” she said.
“We don’t really know whether they will be going back to Afghanistan but next it’s Kenya at the end of the year for training exercises.”
Jason wasn’t fazed by Afghanistan and told his family simply: “This is what I am trained to do.”
Another Army wife brimming with pride was Simonne Horsfield, 26, from Pellon, Halifax, whose husband Cpl Daniel Horsfield, 33, was in the parade.
She had brought sons Charlie, six, and one-year-old Zachary.
Simonne said: “Daniel missed Zachary’s birth. He only came back in October when Zachary was four months old. It was a really emotional time.”
Even those without a family connection to the troops were there to show their support.
Mark Brereton, 43, of Slaithwaite, wearing a special Help for Heroes Town shirt, said: “The public are right behind our soldiers.
“These lads are proper heroes.”
