An Act of Remembrance was held in Warminster on Sunday to commemorate two locally-based soldiers killed in Afghanistan on September 15.

Sergeant Gareth Thursby, 29, and Private Thomas Wroe, 18, both of 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, were shot dead at a checkpoint by a man in a police uniform in Helmand Province.

The Royal British Legion ceremony, held at The Minster Church during its Sunday service, is the third carried out this year, for nine men killed since the battalion left for Afghanistan in February.

At the start of the service the legion standards of the Warminster, Edington and Heytesbury Women’s branches were paraded through the church to the altar where the Ode of Remembrance was read out, and the Last Post played. It was followed by two minutes silence, and prayers.

Warminster legion vice-chairman Brian Darvill said the service was well-attended.

“This is something we have started doing since six soldiers were killed back in March, and unfortunately we have been here twice since then,” he said.

“The Minster Church is a meaningful venue as it has the candle which was lit here when the battalion first left six months ago, which will be extinguished when they return.

“It was simply an event where people from the town could get together and remember these men who lost their lives, and all the soldiers fighting out in Afghanistan.”

A fundraising concert for the 3 Yorks Benevolent Fund, featuring the Warminster Military Wives Choir and other local musicians, takes place on Saturday at the Minster Church, starting at 7.30pm.