Just about everybody had a memory to share. Senior officers remembered a brilliant, courageous soldier at the height of his powers, while his mates preferred to dwell on madcap moments such as the time they almost burned down a French barrack block or when he set off the fire sprinkler over a bunk bed, drenching both himself and a companion.

Staff at Truro Cathedral, where bomb disposal expert Olaf Schmid's funeral took place today, recalled the fresh-faced head chorister who once sang there, while family friends spoke of a cheeky young man who couldn't wait to make something of himself in the army.

Photo: Olaf "Oz" Schmid

But it was the memories of his widow, Christina, that moved the most. Schmid, who died as he tried to make safe a bomb in Afghanistan last month, was a  husband, and a wonderful father to his son Laird, she said.

Wearing his medals, Mrs Schmid said her husband was a protector rather than a destroyer of life and urged "peacemakers" to work as hard as he did to preserve life. She suggested that soldiers involved in the Afghan conflict were plagued with doubt about the illegal wars and revealed that her husband had very grave concerns regarding the occupation of Afghanistan. She argued that civilians needed to do more to get help the soldiers, so many of whom are severely injured, psychologically and physically and practically disregarded by the very government that caused their injury.

Mrs Schmid said veterans were not as well looked after as they should be when they return from service. She urged the government never to forget service personnel and said simply that too many were dying.