York Minster service for 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment

The service at York Minster will be an opportunity for the regiment to remember fallen comrades

A service of thanksgiving and homecoming for the 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment is to be held at York Minster in December.

Seven servicemen were killed during the battalion's deployment to Afghanistan. Six men died in a bomb blast in March and a seventh man was shot in June.

The regiment returned to its base at Warminster in Wiltshire on Tuesday.

Officers said the service would be a chance for soldiers to remember and mourn fallen comrades.

Major Malcolm Birkett, from the regiment, said: "The deaths did hit the battalion hard. They did have time to reflect and mourn but they will do that more significantly back here and certainly in York Minster on 5 December."

Cpl Jake Hartley, 20, Pte Anthony Frampton, 20, Pte Christopher Kershaw, 19, Pte Daniel Wade, 20, and Pte Daniel Wilford, 21 died when a bomb exploded under their vehicle in Helmand province on 6 March.

Pte Stone was the seventh member of the battalion to be killed during it deployment to Afghanistan

Also killed was Sgt Nigel Coupe, 33, from St Annes in Lancashire, who was on secondment to the regiment.

Of the five men serving with the battalion, three were from Huddersfield, Pte Wade was from Warrington and Pte Kershaw was from Bradford.

Pte Gregg Stone, 20, from Atwick near Hornsea in East Yorkshire, was shot during an operation to rescue a policeman kidnapped by insurgents in June.