Armed Forces flag flown at half-mast above Wallasey Town Hall in tribute to two fallen Wirral soldiers

Jun 30 2010 by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

AN ARMED forces flag was flown at half-mast above Wallasey Town Hall in tribute to two Wirral soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Private Douglas Niall Halliday, 20, from Wallasey, Private Alex Isaac, 20, from Liscard, died alongside their colleagues Colour Sergeant Martyn Simon Horton, 34, from Runcorn and Lance Corporal David Ramsden, 26, from Leeds, when the vehicle they were in overturned into the Nahr-e Bughra canal.

The incident happened when the team were responding to an attack on a police checkpoint near Gereshk, in Helmand Province.

Comrades were unable to save the men and they died shortly after 10pm on Wednesday.

The crash is not thought to have been caused by enemy action.

Wirral Council leader, Cllr Jeff Green said a decision had been reached to fly the flag at half-mast, after the men’s deaths were confirmed.

Cllr Green said: “Because it was Armed Forces Day, the chief executive and I discussed it and agreed we should have the armed forces flag outside Wallasey Town Hall, flying at half-mast.”

The three Mersey men were all from 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment.

Pte Halliday joined the army in 2008 and served in Northern Ireland and Kenya before being deployed to Afghanistan.