HUNDREDS of people lined the streets as the bodies of five British soldiers landed back on home soil from Afghanistan yesterday.

They watched as the hearses made their way through Wootton Bassett, in Wiltshire, pausing at the local war memorial for a minute’s silence.

Three of the men repatriated to the county’s RAF Lyneham base yesterday were Royal Marines killed by a suspected suicide bomber aged only 13.

Sergeant John Manuel, 38, from Gateshead, Corporal Marc Birc, 26, and Marine Damian Davies, 27, died on December 12 in Helmand Province.

Earlier in the day, Lance Corporal Steven Fellows, 28, of 45 Commando, died after an explosion hit his vehicle in Sangin.

The body of Lieutenant Aaron Lewis, 29, of 29 Commando, who was killed on Monday, was flown back with them.

Their coffins were carried to a chapel at the RAF base before travelling through Wootton Bassett to the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford, for post-mortem examinations.

The crowds, including Royal British Legion members, shopkeepers, and ex-servicemen, have appeared spontaneously along the route ever since the first bodies began arriving home last year.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: “It’s not an official thing. Word just spreads and people turn out. It really is impressive.”