CROWDS this afternoon lined the streets of Bury St Edmunds to pay their respects to Suffolk soldier Lance Corporal Adam Drane.The 23-year-old from Stanningfield was killed in action while serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment - known as the Vikings.

CROWDS this afternoon lined the streets of Bury St Edmunds to pay their respects to Suffolk soldier Lance Corporal Adam Drane.

The 23-year-old from Stanningfield was killed in action while serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment - known as the Vikings.

He was given a funeral service with full military honours at St Mary's Church today with more than 700 people in the congregation.

An unmarked police car led the cortege onto Angel Hill shortly before 1pm. A military guard of honour from the Royal Anglian Regiment formed at the entrance of the church.

Major Chelsea Hall, the officer commanding the rear party of the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, said it was a tragic day but the turn-out was very uplifting.

He said: “There is clearly a wonderful public support for Adam and his family. I'm surprised on such a cold day to see so many people arriving here today.

“Adam was a high flyer who was proving to be a great leader. It is particularly sad to see a future star taken from us.”

Major Hall said the public support for soldiers killed in Afghanistan today was in striking contrast to the indifference shown towards soldiers being killed in Northern Ireland during the troubles.

During the hour long service The Reverend Father Alex Strachan said his death was an incalculable loss to his family but there was some comfort in the fact his life and death had had such an immense affect on so many people.

L-Cpl Drane was shot dead on December 7 in Nad e Ali, Helmand Province, while guarding a checkpoint. The former King Edward VI schoolboy was the 100th soldier to die in Afghanistan this year.

The funeral service started at 1pm before a private committal for the family at St Nicholas's Church in Stanningfield where L-Cpl Drane grew up.

See tomorrow's East Anglian Daily Times for pictures and a full report on the funeral service.