Corporal Stephen Thompson, of 1st Battalion, The Rifles, was killed in Afghanistan on 7 March, 2010.

He was attached to the 3 Rifles Battle Group at the time and died in an explosion. Corporal Thompson, from Bovey Tracey, in Devon was born in Cleveland on 11 August 1978.

He enlisted in the Army in January 1997 and was sent to be trained at the Army Training Regiment in Lichfield, completing his course in October that year. He joined the 1st Battalion The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment where he successfully completed a Junior Non Commissioned Officers' Cadre earning him promotion to Lance Corporal.

Corporal Thompson then completed the Section Commanders Battle Course before being posted to the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick to train recruits. He returned to 1 Rifles in January 2010 before volunteering to deploy as a Battle Casualty Replacement for 3 Rifles.

Corporal Thompson joined A Company (A Coy) 3 Rifles in February and was working with 2 Platoon out of Patrol Base Almas in Sangin when he was tragically killed while on patrol by an improvised explosive device (IED).

He leaves behind his mother and father, Carol and Peter, brother, Philip, sisters, Claire and Helen, and his son, Ewan.