The recent suicide bombing in Kabul by ISIS-K killed around 170 people, including 13 US service personnel. But, the BBC has also reported that 2 Brits were killed in the attack.
How sad and tragic for anyone to die -- but to die so distant from their English home, far, far from the sound of gentle church bells ringing on a Sunday morn, or the haze of an English meadow softly lifting in the mild warmth of an August sun, as the plaintive lark's cry pierces the hedgerows abustle with the fidgetings of the cheerful badger and the industrious field mouse.
So, before paying tribute, let us picture in our minds these sons of Britain's race, who met their tragic end in the bloodied dust of that far-off Saracen land:
No doubt one of them would have been the archetypal English gentleman, bowler hatted and with a cup of excellent English tea always at the ready. His manly code of honour -- instilled into him by floggings at public school, studying Greek at Eton, and mastering the arcane subtleties of the Foreign Office -- would have prepared him for this ultimate sacrifice:
Perhaps his fellow-in-death was a cheerful Cockney "chappie" from the bustling English metropolis, adorned in the pearly buttons of his native pubs and markets, dying far from the chiming "Bow Bells" and cries of the chimney sweeps of his beloved East End of London:
So, to cut to the chase, who exactly were these latter-day heroes in a long line stretching back through Nelson, Wellington, Marlborough, Captain Cook, Drake, Sir Philip Sidney, Henry Hotspur, Richard Coeur de Lion, King Arthur, and Boadicea?
Over to the BBC:
UK VICTIMS OF KABUL ATTACK
An Uber driver from Hampshire and a shopkeeper from north London were among those who died in the Kabul attack.Mohammad Niazi and Musa Popal were killed after blasts shook the Afghan capital on Thursday.Zohra Popal said her father was said to be waving his British passport at US troops when the explosion occurred...Mr Popal ran the Madeena Supermarket in Hendon, north London, for more than 20 years and had travelled to Afghanistan in June with his wife to visit family...Mohammad Niazi - a taxi driver living in Farnborough - was also killed in the attack after he travelled to Afghanistan to help his family get inside the airport.Friends believe his Afghan wife and children - who were thought to be having visa problems - were also killed.
