MORE than 2,000 people packed York Minster for a memorial and thanksgiving service for 26 soldiers killed in action while serving in Iraq.

Soldiers from 19 Light Brigade, based at Catterick, North Yorkshire, and relatives of those who died in action, packed the cathedral to pay their respects.

For some, it became just too much to bear.

The names of the dead had been slowly read out to a hushed congregation, each one followed by the toll of a single bell.

But as the final notes of the Last Post faded away, the grieving relatives of those who lost their lives could hold their composure no longer.

Beginning as a murmur, their sobs and wails rose in volume until they echoed through the cavernous nave of York Minster.

Their keening ebbed away and then it was silence, as 2,500 soldiers bowed their heads and remembered, with the mourning families, those they left behind in the human tragedy that is Iraq.

During their seven-month tour on Operation Telic 9, the brigade succeeded in handing over responsibility for security to the governor of Maysaan province and four bases to the Iraqi Army.

But it came at great cost. Twenty-six men and women died and more than 130 were wounded during the tour.

The head of 3UK Division, Major-General Richard Shirreff, and brigade commander Brigadier Tim Evans, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the officers and other ranks throughout yesterday's hour-long ceremony.

And the Reverend Timothy Cole, senior chaplain for the brigade, spoke for all there when he said of the dead: "Even if we did not know them personally, they were, each one of them, part of us."

Nine buglers from 2 Battalion, The Rifles, were silhouetted, high above the nave on the parapet of the Great West Window, as the brigade's chief of staff, Military Cross-holder Major Ben Hollister, slowly went through the roll of honour.

And after the silence that followed they put their instruments back to their lips and played Reveille.

In 2009, the brigade will be in action again in Afghanistan.

Brig Evans told the congregation: "The enemy were determined to make their mark, but we were never going to be beaten. We all recognise it came at a great cost. To those who died or were injured - your efforts will not be forgotten."

During their time in Iraq the brigade was responsible for strike after strike against the local militia. "We had to fight hard to retain the initiative and keep on the front foot against a professional and well-motivated enemy who were determined to inflict casualties," said Brig Evans.

"The fact that the officers and soldiers never lost their direction or motivation is testament to the standard of our people today. The officers and soldiers could not have performed better."