THE grieving cousin of a soldier killed in Afghanistan said at his funeral yesterday that “the world stopped” when she heard the news that he had died.
Private Douglas Halliday, 20, from Wallasey, was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in overturned into a canal.
Speaking at the funeral at Holy Cross Church, in Woodchurch, his cousin Helen Fisher said: “Douglas Niall Halliday, I’m honoured to talk about you today, even though it breaks my heart. From that knock on the door, the phone call, the news passed on, for each and every person here, and so many more that can’t be here today, the world stopped.
“Their hearts screamed and things will never be the same again.”
Pte Halliday and his team had been advising the Afghan National Police in Helmand province on how to keep the area safe.
On June 23, following an attack on a nearby police checkpoint, the team, along with the Afghan National Police, were sent to help their colleagues.
He died the same evening in the incident at the Nahr-e-Bughra canal alongside three of his colleagues from the police advisory team – Colour Sergeant Martyn Horton, Lance Corporal David Ramsden, and Private Alex Isaac.
Miss Fisher told the hundreds of mourners gathered inside and outside the church: “To lose a son is a heartache that no-one can heal. Love leaves a memory that no-one can steal.
“Dougie, you may think that you were given life, but the reality is that you gave life.”
