Body of Irish soldier flown to air base

THE body of the Irish soldier killed in Iraq with the British Army, Lance Corporal Ian Keith Malone, was flown back along with six other bodies to a British air base yesterday.

The solemn repatriation ceremony at RAF Brize Norton could not have been further removed from the jubilant scenes at the base one day earlier when 210 servicemen and women arrived safely home to be reunited with waiting friends and family.

The return of the seven bodies brought the number of killed servicemen repatriated to 28, leaving two of the 30 British and Irish fatalities still to be brought home.

The bodies of 11 British servicemen arrived at the base last week. Ten British war dead were brought home the week before. Two members of the Irish Guards were killed by enemy sniper fire on operations on April 6.

Lance Corporal Ian Malone, 28, from Dublin, was single. He enlisted in July 1997. Last to be brought out was his colleague, Piper Christopher Muzvuru, 20, from Gweru, Zimbabwe, who was single and joined up in February 2001.

He was the regiment's first black piper. The ceremony on the tarmac was attended by Defence Minister Lord Bach and the Duke of Kent, Colonel in Chief of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

Lance Corporal Malone, from Ballyfermot, was one of about 100 serving Irish Guards.

Although recruitment from Ireland has fallen, about 350 soldiers or 40% of the lance corporal's regiment are from the Republic.

The Irish soldier died of a shot to the head from a sniper in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

He was part of an advance group deep inside the city.

His regiment described him as "a fine soldier and a brave one" who was liked and respected throughout the Irish Guards. Before joining the British Army in 1997 Ian Malone had not been outside Ireland and enlistment gave him the opportunity to visit 20 countries.

After being promoted to lance corporal in 2000 he served in Kosovo. Most recently stationed at Münster near Dusseldorf, in Germany, he also served in Poland, Canada and Oman.

In February, he joined the coalition force for Iraq in an armoured infantry section, as part of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Battle Group within the Seventh Armoured Brigade, made famous in the second World War as the "Desert Rats."

Malone was a member of the First Battalion of the Irish Guards, founded under Queen Victoria in 1900 in recognition of Irish bravery, particularly in the Boer War.

Malone was a talented chess player. As a child prodigy he is said to have been the only player in an exhibition event in Dublin by Boris Spassky to force the master to a draw.

He was also "a valued member" of the regimental pipe band, according to the British Ministry of Defence.