Bodies of Aussie soldiers coming home

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he will join mourners at the funerals of two
Australian soldiers killed Afghanistan if their families want him there.
Mr Rudd says he has spoken to the families of Brisbane-based sappers Jacob Moerland
and Darren Smith, who were killed by a bomb blast while on patrol on Monday.
Their deaths are the nation's first multiple combat casualties since the Vietnam war
and took Australia's death toll in the Afghan campaign to 13.
Mr Rudd said he would pay his respects at the two diggers' funerals if their
families requested it and were comfortable with it.
"It's a question of being sensitive to what the families want," he said.
"Everyone needs to respect the grieving which these families are going through right
now. It's intense and it's personal," Mr Rudd told reporters in Mandurah, south of
Perth, on Thursday.
Diggers and the military's top brass said goodbye to the two slain diggers in moving
ceremonies held overseas.
At the first ceremony, held at the diggers' base in Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan, task
force commander Jason Blain said people spoke far too freely these days about
heroes.
"We know the real heroes are the men we mourn here, men who day in and day out put
themselves in harm's way and never let their mates down," Lieutenant Colonel Blain
said.
"It's been a tough few days for the battle group, though we are rallying around each
other, we are looking after each other and we have got our mind on the job."
The flag-draped caskets were carried through an honour guard of Australian, Afghan
and other NATO-led coalition troops before being placed in an Australian Hercules to
start the journey home.
Defence Minister John Faulkner and defence force chief Angus Houston attended a
second ceremony for the victims at a military base in the United Arab Emirates.
The commander of all Australian personnel in the Middle East, John Cantwell, said
the death of an Australian serviceman on operations affected everyone.
"To have two outstanding diggers killed in a single event is especially tragic,"
Major General Cantwell said.
The bodies of the two soldiers are now on their final journey back to Australia and
are expected to arrive at the weekend.
Mr Rudd said ramp ceremonies for the two soldiers would be attended by the chief of
the defence force and the minister of defence.