TODAY marks 10 years since forces invaded Iraq for the second Gulf War – an anniversary that will bring memories flooding back for many people in North East Lincolnshire.
Local troops and their families were among those affected by the outbreak of war, which was launched following intelligence claiming that Saddam Hussein was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.
Since the invasion began, 179 British military personnel have been killed in Iraq, including three from this area.
Trooper Kristen Turton, 27, of Holton-le-Clay, was killed on April 19, 2007, by a roadside bomb as the Queen's Royal Lancers approached a river crossing north of Basra.
His mum Jenny Turton, of Holton-le-Clay, said: "The pain never goes away and it never gets any easier. I think you just learn how to cope and to continue to live.
"Tristen was the 144th person to die in the conflict and there were more after him.
"We have never understood why British and American troops were used to fight somebody else's war. If they hadn't gone out there, then our son would still be alive.
"Iraq has been mentioned on the news a lot as the 10th anniversary approached and there have also been a lot of reports of soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress.
"I often think of the lasting impact it must have had on those who witnessed the blast that killed Tristen. It must have been absolutely horrific for them and they will never be able to wipe what they saw from their memories."
The other local men who were killed were Flt Lt Andrew Smith, 25, of Cleethorpes – who was co-piloting an RAF Hercules when it was hit by ground-to-air fire in Iraq on January 30, 2005 – and Capt Dai Jones, from Louth, who died when a roadside bomb blew up the Land Rover in which he was travelling in August 2003.
Among those who know how fortunate they were to see their loved ones return from the conflict alive is Carol Atkinson, 52, of Tennyson Street, Grimsby. She remembers son Duane Atkinson being deployed as an ambulance driver with the Parachute Regiment in Basra, taking part in the invasion of Iraq from Kuwait in 2003.
She said: "He had been to Bosnia and Croatia on peace-keeping missions before, but that was his first actual war.
"I remember him going away very well. It was a very worrying time for us because we didn't know what was going on out there.
"He would call and say everything was okay but we knew that wasn't always the truth."
