The bodies of two British men killed in Syria after they went to support the Kurdish fight against Islamic State have been repatriated to the UK.
Sniper Jac Holmes and Oliver Hall, both 24, died one month apart last year while serving with the Kurdistan People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Raqqa.
Their bodies were welcomed by Kurds and grieving relatives after they were flown into Heathrow Airport this afternoon, following a day-long delay due to paperwork issues.
Jac Holmes, left, and Oliver Hall, right, died while clearing bombs in Syria after going to join the Kurdish fight against Islamic State
As they left in private ambulances, a main road was closed briefly to allow the families and members of the Kurdish community to hold a pause for silence, pay their respects, lay flowers and make speeches.
Mr Hall had been serving with the YPG for almost four months when he died on November 25 after being fatally injured in an explosion.
His mother, Jane Lyndon, and his stepfather, Gary Lyndon, said the ‘headstrong’ 24-year-old had ‘found his calling’ and that they had ‘not seen him this happy in a long time’ when he was out fighting.
Kurds raised their hands in respect and gave speeches to honour the two British men who died while serving in the resistance
Jac Holmes’s parents Peter and Angie, left, are pictured with Ollie Hall’s mother, Jane, and his stepfather Gary Lyndon at the repatriation
The 24-year-old, from the Portsmouth area, had travelled to Syria on August 18 and spent five weeks in an academy in Rojava, northern Syria, without his family’s knowledge.
Mrs Lyndon said she last saw him when he dropped her off at work one morning.
She said: ‘He took me to work and was supposed to be picking me up but said he couldn’t because he was going to the cinema, and then at half 11 that night, he texted me and said he was in Germany and (would be) working in a refugee camp for two months.
Kurds welcomed the bodies of the two British men home as they were repatriated at Heathrow Airport today
Angie Blannin, front, touches the private ambulance as it passes during today’s repatriation
‘Then I had another text at four, five in the morning to say he was leaving the airport and he would message me when he could, and it was about four days later when he messaged me and said he was in northern Syria.’
A tearful Mrs Lyndon added: ‘The light went out of my eyes the day that he went.’
She said she wanted her son to be remembered as a ‘brave, courageous young man who was headstrong but followed his calling’.
The coffins of both men were carried away in private ambulances after today’s repatriation, where Kurds offered speeches to commemorate the two
Ollie Hall – an untrained soldier – is pictured after he went to join the YPG in Syria, where he died clearing mines
Mr Holmes, from Bournemouth, died in October while clearing mines in Raqqa just after it had been liberated from IS control.
The war-ravaged Syrian town had served as the headquarters of the so-called IS caliphate since 2014.
His mother, Angie Blannin, previously said: ‘He stood up for what he believed in and he had the courage of his convictions to go out and do something where he thought that the West were not doing enough.’
Ollie Hall’s mother, Jane, and his stepfather, Gary, place flowers on the private ambulance carrying his body
The body of Ollie Hall is carried away in a private ambulance as mourners gathered to mark his death
Mark Campbell, co-chairman of the Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign, described Mr Holmes as ‘thoughtful, intelligent’, and a ‘well-researched young man’ who grew up during his time in Syria.
He added: ‘He was involved in some incredible encounters with Isis and he really wanted to be involved in the liberation of Raqqa.
‘It was such a cruel twist of history that right at the end, it was the day after the liberation of Raqqa, that he was clearing a house for civilians and was killed in an IED explosion.’
Mr Hall (front left, wearing a hat) became the seventh British fighter to be killed by Islamic State
Mr Hall travelled to Syria, via Iraq, and took part in a training academy with YPG armed units, according to his friends
Jac Holmes posted pictures of the Black Stadium online, an underground network of tunnels which included prison cells and torture chambers
Mr Holmes had completed three tours in Syria since joining the YPG in January 2015.
Mr Campbell, who was involved in the repatriation of Mr Holmes and Mr Hall, said the gathering was an opportunity for ‘closure’.
Mrs Lyndon said the 24-hour postponement in their return was ‘the worst day of her life’.
Mr Campbell described the repatriation process as ‘difficult’ as the bodies travelled through northern Syria and Iraq, before going to Jordan and then flying to London.
The YPG is mostly made up of around 50,000 Kurdish men and women fighting against IS in northern Syria.
The other British fatalities fighting against IS are Mehmet Aksoy, 32, Luke Rutter, 22, Ryan Lock, 20, Dean Evans, 22, and Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, 25.