'Iraq inquiry won’t bring my son back but it may say Blair was wrong'

It was my birthday and we had been away for the weekend. On the way home we heard on the radio that a patrol had been attacked in Basra and a soldier had been killed. My wife Maureen said: “I hope it isn’t Matthew.” And I said: “He doesn’t do routine patrols.” But when we got home we discovered that there were two military guys trying to find us. They came in and said: “I think you had better sit down.”

It’s impossible to describe how it felt. You become an automaton, you go into deep shock and it’s extremely painful. It’s very difficult to know how you go about your daily business, but somehow you carry on eating and getting dressed.

The most emotional part is the repatriation. We weren’t allow to see him until after the post-mortem examination, but it was very important to know that it was him. We went back up to London full of emptiness and grief, not really knowing where we were.

Our son, Major Matthew Bacon, had green blood in his veins. He was always an outdoor type, loved adventure sports and joined the Army Cadets at 17, in 1987. He was so motivated, always the type to get others involved in things. In Bosnia in 1996 he organised a marathon for the local people.

It was quite clear to those in charge that he ought to be in a leading role and he went to Sandhurst that year. When he passed out, my chest absolutely swelled. He had a fast ascent in the Intelligence Corps and five years later he was a major. He had served in the Gulf War, did two tours in Afghanistan and volunteered to go back a third time to let a captain go home for Christmas. He was so committed to his people. About this time he met the girl of his dreams. We were sure that there would be grandchildren.

Matthew went to Iraq in August 2005 and five weeks later he was dead. He was due to fly from Basra Palace to the airbase, but the helicopter developed a hydraulic leak and they didn’t have a spare. So they went in a Snatch Land Rover and were hit by an improvised explosive device. Why were people going out in soft-shelled vehicles? They knew people were going to get killed. The handling of the war was chaotic. It has been a complete debacle from start to finish.

I couldn’t see any justification for invading in 2003. One man is responsible for the whole thing and that is Tony Blair. He was changing everything as he went along to justify the war. He and George Bush are acolytes of the Devil.

This morning I will be going to an SSAFA support group for bereaved families and in the afternoon I will go to the Chilcot inquiry. I don’t think I will learn anything new from Mr Blair. The only thing I would want to ask him is how he can sleep at night knowing that our son died because of his actions.

There is no way Mr Blair is going to be tried. But if Chilcot says Mr Blair misled the country, perhaps Parliament could pass a resolution condemning him. That would speak in our name. It won’t make anything right — we can’t have our boy back — but it would make us feel at last that someone had said: “You are wrong in what you did.”

Roger Bacon, from London, is the father of Major Matthew Bacon, killed by a roadside bomb in Basra in September 2005 at the age of 34.

'I've not been watching Chilcot. It can’t change things for us'

It was Easter Saturday. My wife, Sue, was in the kitchen and saw a smartly dressed officer arriving. She knew what was coming. I was in the Army, as was my father. We understood, but that doesn’t make it any easier. It was desperate then, and it’s desperate now. There’s a hole in the family, not just for us but particularly for his brother, David.

It was clear that Richard was suited to the Army. He passed out of Sandhurst in 2004. He was nervous, but he wanted to go to Iraq. If you are trained to do something and you aren’t allowed to do it, it is frustrating.

Richard went to Iraq in October 2005 and was commanding a troop in the Danish battle group out in the sticks beyond Basra. He was killed by a roadside bomb three weeks before his tour was to end. Training the Iraqi Army was part of his job; when they first went out on operations with them they made sure the Iraqis were as far away as possible. But when he came back on R&R he told me about an arms find where the Iraqi Army made the discovery. There is a lot of satisfaction when you can see a dramatic change and know that you had quite a lot to do with it.

Richard’s regiment, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, has been brilliant. The young people have been especially supportive. Sally, his girlfriend, ran the London Marathon, raising £50,000 for the Army Benevolent Fund. I have not been watching the Chilcot inquiry. It can’t change things for us.

Brigadier John Palmer (retired), of Ware, Hertfordshire, is the father of Lieutenant Richard Palmer, 27, killed near Ad Dayr in 2006.

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