Soldier to read dead brother’s best man speech
THE soldier who died on a training exercise on the hottest day of the year had already written the best man’s speech for his brother’s wedding.
Now his grieving sibling intends to read it out at the ceremony in Edinburgh next week.
Corporal Josh Hoole, 26, from Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, collapsed on Tuesday shortly after finishing an eight-mile fitness test during pretraining for the Platoon Sergeants’ Battle Course in the Brecon Beacons, south Wales.
His brother’s fiancée Carey Taylor has revealed that Tyrone Hoole, 27, who is also in the Army, has decided to go ahead with their wedding – as it is what his brother would have wanted.
Miss Taylor, 25, said: ‘Ty is going to read Josh’s speech, if he can. He’ll try his best. We’re all heartbroken by what happened to Josh.
‘We could have put the wedding back two months but is that going to be any easier? Josh would have wanted us to go ahead with the wedding – it will let the family come together.’
Miss Taylor also revealed that it was Corporal Tyrone Hoole, who serves with the 3rd Battalion of The Rifles, known as 3 Rifles, who had to break the news of the death to his brother’s fiancée Rachael, 29.
Miss Taylor, from Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, said: ‘Ty was the one who told Rachael that Josh had died.
‘She had friends with her, which was a good thing because she had someone there to comfort her during this terrible time.’
Corporal Hoole, who was on day two of a two-week course, was serving in the Rifles regiment at ITC Catterick, North Yorkshire.
The exercise he was doing involved carrying 55lb of kit in two hours in what was an annual fitness test and was ‘not supposed to be taxing’.
Meanwhile, Corporal Hoole’s grandfather, John Craig, 79, described the Brecon Beacons as a ‘horrible place’.
Mr Craig, who served in the Royal Artillery and worked as an instructor at Brecon in the 1950s, said: ‘For Josh to be in Afghanistan twice and come back and then for this to happen at Brecon Beacons... we’re all shell-shocked.
‘I was an instructor at Brecon for a couple of months. It’s a horrible place and that was in winter.
‘Of course questions need to be asked but if there’s any blame, the MoD will find out who is responsible.’
Corporal Hoole’s death came three years after three soldiers died during an SAS training exercise in the Brecon Beacons on July 13, 2013 – one of the hottest days of the year.
A coroner ruled that neglect played a part in the deaths of Lance Corporals Edward Maher and Craig Roberts – who both suffered heatstroke –and Corporal James Dunsby, who died from multiple organ failure two weeks later.
‘We’re all heartbroken’