Tributes have been paid to a Didcot-based bomb disposal expert killed in an explosion in Afghanistan.
Warrant Officer Class 2 Gary O'Donnell, 40, a member of the 11 Explosive Ordnance Regiment, part of the Royal Logistic Corps, based at Vauxhall Barracks in Foxhall Road, was killed on Wednesday. The father-of-four died while leading a small team sent in to clear an improvised explosive device found by a Royal Engineers search team in Helmand province.
A Military of Defence spokesman said: "He was an excellent soldier, he had already been awarded the George Medal for gallantry while serving in Iraq in 2006."
Originally from Edinburgh, he had been living with his family in Leamington Spa.
He leaves his widow Toni and children Aiden eight, and 10-week-old son Ben, and two teenage children from a previous marriage, Dylan and Cayleigh.
His death takes the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 118.
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