Now give the perfect pallbearers MBEs
They did their nation proud: Calls grow for Grenadiers to be awarded
MILITARY leaders, politicians and celebrities have backed calls for the Queen’s faultless pallbearers to receive medals.
The Grenadier Guards who carried the Queen’s coffin into Westminster Abbey and St George’s Chapel showed incredible composure throughout the ceremonies.
Watched by the wellwishers who lined the streets of London and Windsor – and billions worldwide – they produced a perfect performance.
The eight men, handpicked from the regiment’s Queen’s Company, included a teenager and a former reservist.
They were led by a ninth soldier, Company Sergeant Major Dean Jones, a married father-of-one, with another guard at the rear of the coffin. Last
‘Embodied the professionalism of the Armed Forces’
night, former head of the Army Lord Dannatt, MPs Dan Jarvis and Tobias Ellwood and SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant Middleton agreed that the soldiers should be made Members of the British Empire (MBEs).
There is a historical precedent for such an award as the Grenadiers who were responsible for bearing Sir Winston Churchill’s coffin in 1965 received the British Empire Medal (BEM).
At the time, the BEM was awarded to soldiers holding the rank of warrant officer and below for meritorious service. Officers ranked lieutenant and higher received the MBE. This distinction ended after a review in 1993.
Lord Dannatt said the MBE would be a fitting reward for the pallbearers who ‘ embodied the professionalism of the Armed Forces’.
Mr Ellwood, head of the Commons defence committee, said: ‘Their performance did the Queen and the nation proud.’ Mr Middleton, a former Special Forces operative, said they ‘ deserved nothing less than an MBE’.
CSM Jones, the eldest of the party, led his young charges throughout the ceremonies.
Meanwhile, the guardsmen, corporals and lance sergeants under his command carried the coffin, weighing more than 500lbs due to lead lining, up and down steps without putting a foot wrong.
Many of them had been on operational service in Iraq and were flown back to the UK for the funeral.
The youngest of the pallbearers was believed to be 19-year- old guardsman Fletcher Cox from Jersey. The former Army cadet fulfilled his childhood ambition by joining the Grenadier Guards.
But he could scarcely have imagined he would be trusted to carry the Queen’s coffin.
And soldier Luke Simpson, from Selston, Nottinghamshire, was praised by his former teachers at Ashfield School for his role in the funeral. Head teacher John Maher said he took his place ‘centre stage on such a historic occasion’ and executed his duties ‘so professionally’.
The Ministry of Defence last night refused to be drawn on whether the pallbearers would be decorated for their exemplary performance at the funeral.