Sir – In her letter (June 16) Clare Richardson describes a “circus crowd” as the corteges return the bodies of those killed in Afghanistan. That is not the reason that I, or any others, go to the repatriations.

I go to pay my respects to the members of the Armed Forces who have given their lives for our freedom in this age of terrorism and I hope that the families will know that the public are there to support them in their loss.

Pat Whitehouse, Headington