By Lyndon Saunders Producer, Five Live Report: Back From War

The Wilsons, reunited: From left, Shane, Mark, Maxim, and Gary

Lance Corporal Shane Wilson is 19 and from Salford. Having been in the army for just two years, going to Iraq was his first major challenge as a soldier.

Going, for him, was "a bonus as it's my job at the end of the day." But there is one incident that he finds hard to forget. He wakes up in the middle of the night, sweaty and nervous.

"We heard some fire in the air and we reacted to it," he says. "When we approached this place, it looked like a wedding and they were firing in the air, a celebratory fire as they call it.

"The person holding the rifle, I don't know if he meant to shoot one of us or if it was just a case of panic but he fired off the rifle. As he fired it off, it went into the forehead of a seven-year-old girl. It was a very horrible sight.

I have some flashbacks of a couple of points over there - I wake up of a night time rather sweaty and nervous Shane Wilson

"I wake up twice a week but if people ask me questions it'd be to the point and then stop it there and then, because I just want to forget about it."

Shane's Mum, Maxim, is used to army life. Her husband, Gary, has been in the forces for nearly 30 years, and her other son, Mark, 22, is also a soldier. This summer, Maxim waved goodbye to all three as they were sent to Iraq.

"I cried and cried the days they went. I didn't want them on the same planes and in the same areas when they went out so they were all separated. If anything did happen, there was only one and not all three of them. With army life you've got to be like that."

Maxim had sleepless night while her family were away but found comfort in an illicit line of direct communication.

Shooting

"Through the mobile phones - I think that's what kept me going because, if something happened, I could text them whenever I wanted to. They were told not to take them but I think every soldier had a mobile phone on them.

"I phoned Mark a few times and you could hear the firing in the background and he said, 'Mum they're shooting at us, gotta go because it's getting busy', and the phone goes dead and you think, hang on, what's happening here? Then they'd phone back when everything was all right."

Unfortunately, for 53 families of British soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq, Christmas will be a difficult time. Major Matthew Titchener was a Royal Military Policeman re-training the Iraqi police when he was killed in an ambush in Basra on 23 August.

Matthew Titchener, who was killed on duty in August

"It's the hardest times of our lives with what's happened but Matthew was the greatest brother anyone could ever ask for, says Dan Titchener, Matthew's brother.

He recalls fond memories of the last time he saw him at a family barbecue in Southport. Matthew's widow, Raqual, is expecting his baby on Boxing Day. The couple already had a two-and-a-half-year-old son.

Dan says: "With the baby due, it's going to be a very hard time but a special time. There's a life living on, not just in the baby, but in his son Matheson.

"I feel angry, as a you think 'Why my brother?' but then you sit back and think 'I'm proud it was Matthew and nobody else.' He was there doing his job and the way he would look at it is as long as his men carried on their work, they are all doing good work out there.

"One thing I wouldn't want at the moment is for anybody to pull out. There'd be civil unrest so I feel, I know it's hard for the families but they're there to do a job. Once that job's done then bring them all home."

Vietnam

In Colchester, Lieutenant Colonel James Balshall is commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment. He's taken his troops out to Iraq to take over security operations in Basra this Christmas.

He says: "I think it's a good thing that we're going to help rebuild the country and make it strong and independent. I take note of what protesters say and I think everyone should have their say.

"The only thing that would trouble me is if we became the target of bitterness just because we're soldiers and are doing what we're told. If you think back to the American situation in Vietnam, when soldiers came home and were spat at, that would really upset me if it got as bad as that."