The parents of a Wantage soldier killed in the Middle East last night urged everyone to buy a poppy and attend next month's Remembrance Day services.

Speaking publicly for the first time since losing their only daughter, Fred and Dawn Holmes, of Naldertown, Wantage, talked out about their grief and the importance of remembering all fallen war heroes.

Lance Corporal Sarah Holmes died in October last year after she was involved in a road crash in Qatar, just days before she was due to return home.

The 26-year-old died of her injuries at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham on October 14.

Following the first anniversary of her death, her family marked what would have been her 28th birthday with a memorial blessing at her grave in Chain Hill Cemetery last Friday.

Her parents said wearing a poppy was more important than ever and have called on everyone to wear one with pride this year.

Mechanic Mr Holmes, 61, said: "Wearing a poppy is more poignant now for us after what happened with Sarah. It's part of remembering her.

"It's important to remember the sacrifice that people, not just Sarah, but everyone who has fought before us, has made."

Mrs Holmes, 51, a cleaner and lollipop lady, added: "We are going to the parade this year and I think everyone should go to Remembrance Sunday because everyone who died for our country deserves to be remembered, including Sarah.

"Every single person in this country should buy a poppy to mark what they have done for us."

L Cpl Holmes was in 29 Postal Courier and Movement Regiment and was serving on Operation Telic attached to the Logistic Support Regiment, based in Gloucestershire.

The former King Alfred's School pupil joined the Army in 1997 and was working at the Al Udeid airfield when the car she was in collided with a truck.

Mr Holmes said: "You have to grin and bear it. You just have to be proud of them because nothing can ever bring them back.

"You have to be proud of their courage and their achievements.

"I miss her a lot. I normally visit her grave every day just because of that feeling of loss and I feel closer to her.

"She was a Daddy's girl really, she always came to me if ever there was a problem.

"She wanted to be in the Army all the time when she was little, I don't know why.

"I'm so proud of her. The fact that she was on duty when she died makes me more proud."

Mrs Holmes said the family, including brother David, 26, would never stop grieving.

She said: "It has been so hard, but we live day-to-day now. We know she is never coming home again.

"Every time a soldier gets killed it brings it up again and we know the family are going through what we have been through."

"But we know she died doing what she loved.

"She always had a smile on her face and wrote home when she could and she rang home most weekends. We never had any trouble with her growing up, she was brilliant."

A date for the inquest into her death has not yet been set.