Corporal Paul Long died in Iraq on his first deployment

Corporal Paul Long, 24, of South Shields, South Tyneside was buried with full military honours in Colchester, Essex, where he last lived.

Corporal Long was one of six soldiers killed in an attack on a police station at Al Majar al-Kabir on 24 June.

Several hundred mourners, including family, friends and colleagues of the soldier, attended the Roman Catholic service in the white wooden church.

During the service, a fellow soldier read out a poem, which Corporal Long had asked to be sent to his wife Gemma in the event of his death while in Iraq.

He is also survived by his 11-month-old son, Benjamin.

Floral wreaths topped Corporal Long's hearse

All six victims were Royal Military Police, members of the 156 Provost Company, attached to 16 Air Assault Brigade, based in Colchester.

He joined the Regular Army in April 1999, having served two years with the Territorial Army, and was posted to 156 Provost Company in March 2000.

A member of the Parachute Provost Platoon, he was a qualified radio operator and his posting to Iraq was his first operational deployment.

It is thought the group had been attempting to defend the station after a confrontation with locals over what they claimed were heavy-handed weapons searches.

The bodies of all six soldiers were flown back to RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, earlier this month.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has vowed that British forces are "not going to forget" their promise to find the men's killers.

The five other military policemen killed were Sgt Simon Hamilton-Jewell, 41, of Chessington, Surrey; L/Cpl Ben Hyde, 23, of Northallerton, North Yorkshire; Cpl Russell Aston, 30, of Coton-in-the-Elms, near Swadlincote, Derbyshire; Cpl Simon Miller, 21, from Washington, Tyne and Wear; and L/Cpl Thomas Keys, 20, from Llanuwchyllyn, near Bala, Wales.