About 500 mourners attended the funeral last week of journalist Richard Wild, 24, who killed by a lone gunman close to Baghdad’s natural history department in July. Chief mourners at the service at Melrose Parish Church in the Scottish Borders were his parents, Robin and Daphne, and sisters Alison and Rosemary.
The service was moved from a smaller church to accommodate the large number of family and friends who wanted to attend.
Former soldier Wild had gone to Iraq in the hope of establishing himself as a war correspondent by working as a freelance. An investigation into his death is being carried out by the US army. One theory is that the Cambridge graduate may have been mistaken for a US soldier.
The Reverend Bruce Neill said: “It is clear to me from what I have heard and read that Richard made the most profound impression on all kinds of people in all sorts of situations.”
Wild’s family had urged him not to go to Iraq, but Neill said no one should have any regrets that he had decided to make the journey. “He was being true to his own aspirations and was living his life in the way he chose.”
By Hamish Mackay
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