PHILLIP HEWETTPhillip Dale Rimes Hewett, who died on 16 July, 2005, aged 21, was a talented young soldier with the 1st Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment.
Private Hewett was respected in the Regiment as a highly skilled driver of both Land Rovers and Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicles.
He had spent three years with the same platoon, and was a well-liked, established member of the close-knit team. He will be remembered for his cheerful nature and his natural air of confidence.
Private Hewett was born in Dover, Kent, on 11 August, 1983. Although he had always wanted to join the Army, he thought his poor eyesight would prevent him from achieving his dream.
Instead, Private Hewett undertook a bricklayer's apprenticeship when he left school and worked in the profession for two years. However, he was not fulfilled by his career and decided to try the Army again.
His mother Susan described how happy he was when the Army accepted him and how he really began to enjoy his life.
Private Hewett was deployed to Al Amarah in Iraq in April, 2005, to work alongside the battle group Task Force Maysan.
On 16 July, 2005, Private Hewett was on patrol as the driver in one of three armoured Snatch Land-Rovers in Al Amarah, when a roadside bomb exploded.
Despite receiving immediate medical attention at the scene, Private Hewett died of his wounds. The attack killed two of his colleagues, Private Leon Spicer and Second Lieutenant Richard Shearer, and injured two others.
Lt Col Andrew Williams, Commanding Officer of the Staffordshire Regiment, paid tribute to his colleague: "Private Hewett was Second Lieutenant Shearer's driver - a respected position of enormous responsibility only given to the best of senior soldiers.
"His lively nature ensured he was always popular and despite just returning to Iraq from leave in England he was full of good humour and stories. Private Hewett had marked himself as having a sound future in the Army and had been selected to attend a promotional course in the winter. Exceptionally fit, he was also short-listed to become a Physical Training Instructor."
Private Hewett's mother said: "He was such a cheerful man, a real fitness fanatic and he was hoping to be a physical training instructor."
His final email to her said: "i really need a big hug!I can't wait to see the family again I've had so many close calls in the past three weeks it's getting sporty now."
She said that she noticed on his last visit home how much the war had changed him: "He seemed really sad which was so unlike him. He had lost weight and he was tired because they were so short staffed, and it was like his character had changed. He even discussed his funeral arrangements with his sisters, as though he knew he would die out there."
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