{"id":238308,"date":"2025-12-17T23:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T23:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/238308\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T23:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T23:29:10","slug":"soldier-killed-in-ukraine-told-family-to-be-proud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/238308\/","title":{"rendered":"Soldier killed in Ukraine told family to be proud"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MinistryMinistry of Defence<\/p>\n

The body of Lance Corporal George Hooley, 28, was repatriated to the UK on Wednesday<\/p>\n

A British paratrooper killed serving in Ukraine told his family to “be proud” and not “remember him with sadness”, in a letter to be opened in the event of his death.<\/p>\n

The body of Lance Corporal George Hooley was repatriated to RAF Brize Norton on Wednesday after his death last week.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old was killed while observing Ukrainian forces test “a new defensive capability, away from the front lines”, in what the Ministry of Defence (MoD) described as a “tragic accident”.<\/p>\n

An extract of the letter, shared at the request of L\/Cpl Hooley’s family, said he “went out doing what I trained to do, what I chose to do, and I had all of you in my heart the whole way”.<\/p>\n

“If you are reading this, it means I didn’t make it home,” he wrote. <\/p>\n

“Please don’t let that be the thing that breaks you. You know I was doing what I believed in as well as loved, with people I respected, and for reasons that matter to me, my country and democracy and freedom in this world.<\/p>\n

“I was proud of what I was doing. Don’t remember me with sadness and loss. Be proud.”<\/p>\n

\"MinistryMinistry of Defence<\/p>\n

Lance Corporal George Hooley was 28 years old when he died serving in Ukraine<\/p>\n

Earlier on Wednesday, a private ceremony was held at Brize Norton before L\/Cpl Hooley’s body was carried past mourners lining the route to the Carterton Repatriation Memorial Garden.<\/p>\n

He was due to be promoted to Corporal in January and had been given the role’s responsibilities on his deployment to Ukraine, the MoD said.<\/p>\n

L\/Cpl Hooley, who had previously been deployed to Afghanistan, Africa and Eastern Europe, was described in tributes as having a “rare gift” of “deep kindness”.<\/p>\n

His company commander said: “If you met George Hooley, you remembered it. His energy and enthusiasm were simply extraordinary.<\/p>\n

“He provided spark that lifted others, a drive that inspired, and a zest for life that reminded us all how to live with purpose and joy. And we loved him for it. George had a rare gift: a deep kindness and genuine time for everyone.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ministry of Defence The body of Lance Corporal George Hooley, 28, was repatriated to the UK on Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-238308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-main-news","16":"tag-mainnews","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-topstories","20":"tag-world","21":"tag-world-news","22":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115737511591534484","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}