Mike Aston wants an inquiry into his son's death

Corporal Russell Aston from Coton in the Elms, Derbyshire, died along with five other Red Caps while guarding a police station in southern Iraq in June 2003.

His father Mike Aston is meeting Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon on Thursday to give him a 1,000-name petition calling for the six soldiers killed in the ambush to be honoured.

He says the families also want a public inquiry into what went wrong.

THE SIX SOLDIERS WHO DIED Corporal Russell Aston, 30 Swadlincote, Derbyshire Corporal Simon Miller, 21 Tyne and Wear Sergeant Simon Alexander Hamilton-Jewell, 41 from Chessington, Surrey Corporal Paul Graham Long, 24 Colchester, originally from South Tyneside Lance-Corporal Benjamin John McGowan Hyde, 23 Northallerton, Yorks Lance-Corporal Thomas Richard Keys, 20 Bala, N Wales Profile of Royal Military Police

"We hope the Secretary of State will listen to our misgivings and hopefully call a public inquiry.

"The army, on that terrible day, made a lot of mistakes which may or may not have contributed to my son's death.

"An inquiry would cross-examine people in public and it is the only way to get the whole truth."

The men were killed by a mob on June 24, 2003 in an attack at Al Majar Al Kabir, 120 miles north of the British-controlled city of Basra.

No witnesses

The attack was the largest single loss of life suffered by the army in one day since the first Gulf War in 1991.

Mr Aston said the soldiers are not being given posthumous awards because there were no credible British witnesses.

"For goodness sake, the witnesses are all dead," Mr Aston said.

"My son and five other brave men died fighting for their country and it should be acknowledged."

Mr Aston said he had received tremendous support from people in Derbyshire and Staffordshire for his campaign to have the men honoured.

Tony Hamilton-Jewell, whose 41-year-old brother Simon, from Chessington, Surrey, was among those killed, said: "Families have lost loved ones in a battle and there's no real recognition for any of the parents of the families.

"I think that what has to be looked at is the procedures within the army because they're not correct in this day and age.

"We're now in the 21st Century and the army are still Dad's Army in the 1940s."