Pte Spicer (centre) had battled back to fitness to return to Iraq

The service for Pte Leon Spicer took place at The Sacred Heart RC Church in his home town of Tamworth on Monday.

Pte Spicer, 26, was killed along with two of his 1st Battalion colleagues on patrol in Al Amarah on 16 July.

Services for his colleagues, Pte Phillip Hewett, 21, also of Tamworth, and 2nd Lt Richard Shearer, 26, of Nuneaton, Warks, were held last week.

He died doing what he wanted to do most of all in the world Father Joe McGee

Two privates who were injured in the attack were at Monday's mass, which was told how Pte Spicer had battled back to fitness after a leg injury to fulfil his "dream" of returning to southern Iraq.

Father Joe McGee told hundreds of mourners gathered at the church that the 26-year-old had been intensely proud to serve his country.

Fr McGee said he had spoken with Pte Spicer - who he described as a "gentle soul" - at his mother's home in Tamworth in April.

The priest said: "That night I heard of his dream of going to Iraq, of his real hope of joining his comrades.

"We are glad for him that his dream was realised even though it ended in his sudden and terrible death.

"He died doing what he wanted to do most of all in the world, serving as a Stafford, serving in that troubled part of the world."