Bareheaded, they solemnly made their way across the tarmac at RAF Lyneham after a plane had flown Jon back from Afghanistan.
The 26-year-old Marine was one of four heroes brought home after dying in the same grim 24 hours.
Also repatriated to the Wiltshire air base yesterday were Sergeant David Monkhouse of The Royal Dragoon Guards, Staff Sergeant Brett Linley from 11 EOD Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, and Senior Aircraftman Kinikki Griffiths of 1 Squadron RAF Regiment.
A convoy of hearses drove the coffins through nearby Wootton Bassett as 800 people lined the streets.
Victim Jon and L/Cpl Matt were both from the same Reserve unit and served together with 40 Commando in Afghanistan in 2008.
It was during that tour that Matt won the George Cross for throwing himself on a Taliban grenade to save his comrades. Jon, of Halesowen, West Midlands, had volunteered for his third tour and was killed by a Taliban booby trap.
After carrying his coffin, pal Matt said: "Jon was very brave and a good mate. The worst part was climbing up the aircraft's ramp and then seeing the coffins."
Jon's fiancée Danielle Davis added: "I can't explain how much I loved him. It was hard to share him with the Marines and his duties but he always did it so well."
Medical technician Sgt Monkhouse of Aspatria, Cumbria, was killed by a bomb. His family said: "The Army was his life, second only to his daughter Twinkle. He was an exceptional soldier and devoted parent."
Bomb disposal expert SSgt Linley, 29, who died trying to clear IEDs last Saturday, is to be nominated for a posthumous award.
The NCO from Birmingham was hailed as "the bravest of the brave" and Lt Col David Southall of the Royal Engineers said: "His loss has shaken us all and leaves a void."
SAC "Griff" Griffiths, 20, was carrying out his duties as a signaller and driver when he was killed in a road accident. Wing Commander Paul Weaver Smith said: "He will be sorely missed by us all."
Meanwhile it emerged yesterday that Sgt Monkhouse, 35, saved a woman's life following a motorway crash in 2006.
He crawled into Gill Mathews' wrecked car on the M25 and tended her until firefighters cut her free. Gill, of Blackwater, Surrey, said: "If it hadn't been Bob in that car with me, I wouldn't be here."
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