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Main Street in the English town of Wootton Bassett, England has become a focal point for mourning British war dead. One of the town’s councillors tells host Lisa Mullins about the ritual that locals observe when the coffins of fallen soldiers are driven through the town.

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LISA MULLINS:  Alas, military technology can’t prevent scenes like this one.

[CHURCH BELLS TOLLING]

LISA:  Thousands of people lined the main street of Wootton Bassett, England, two weeks ago. They were paying their respects to eight British soldiers, whose coffins were being driven through town. This ritual has played out 81 times in Wootton Bassett. When Britain’s war dead arrived at a nearby air force base, the people of this small English town paid their respects. They did again today, after the bodies of four more soldiers came home. Alison Bucknell is a member of Wootton Bassett’s Town Council. She says the ceremonies in her town began two years ago.

ALISON BUCKNELL: It all started by one or two people, who happened to notice a hearse going through the town and it happened to be a member of the British Legion in the town at the time and he stopped and saluted. So the next time it was a case of well actually there is one coming through, let’s go and meet by the war memorial and actually salute it as it goes through. And then the word spread and more and more British Legion people started coming along and then members of the public joined in.

LISA: What is it like to be there? I mean even today, when four soldiers came through the town?

ALISON: It’s very strange, because often we have quite a long wait. And as more and more people come, the atmosphere builds. There’s a sort of tension that builds. Then the bell starts, and all of a sudden the silence falls. And from my own point, I feel a little, little sort of frisson go down my neck and it, it’s quite spooky, it’s almost like a shadow passes over you, and you stand there and then you can start to feel the grief of the family and the relatives there. And very often they will then start to cry and express their grief outwardly, which really is difficult, in paying your own men, even though we probably most of us don’t have any first hand connections with it, it’s very difficult when you see somebody obviously in pain and grief to not want to join in. It’s a very, very special moment and then when it’s gone, you stand there and you take a big sigh and the bell stops ringing and there’s a pause and then it’s just like somebody’s thrown a switch really, people just start to move again.

LISA: Do you ever know the names of the soldiers or marines? Do you ever know anything about them?

ALISON: We, we read about them in the press, so we know who’s coming through. But we don’t know which body is in which hearse. So if you’ve got more than one body, you’ve just got four coffins with four union jack’s draped over them, we don’t know which one’s which. But it doesn’t matter to us, because to us they’re all equal.

LISA: Did you get to speak to any of the family members today of any of the soldiers?

ALISON: We all speak to the family members. We just pass on the feelings of the town, the people of Wootton Bassett, to say to them, we stand out here because we want you to know that we don’t believe you’ve lost a loved one in vain, and that’s really what it’s all about.

LISA: Does anyone take this or intend this as a political statement for or against the wars?

ALISON: No, no, I mean we’re speaking to people in intense grief and that’s the first time it becomes real to them, because up until then they just know that person’s been killed. You know, the coffin passing and the hearse is actually the first indication of what is the reality of that, and oh boy does it hit home to some people.

LISA: I wonder, since this is really an intensely private moment, if there’s ever a feeling that as honorable as the ritual is and the silence is, if there is any kind of pushback from some of the families? I mean I don’t know if you know about the ban that was put in place back in 1991 on the media taking photographs of caskets that came to Dover Air force Base in Delaware? That was a ban that was reversed by Barack Obama. Some people said, look, this is a way to show respect to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. There were some family members who felt as if it was an invasion of privacy, when the family’s already dealing with tragedy. Have you had any kind of indication of how the families feel there?

ALISON: Well there have been a couple of incidents where the, literally the cameras have been in the face of people waiting, almost you feel as if they’re trying to get their picture of the grief. But apart from that, those families choose to be there, and it is a public street, it’s a public place. I’m afraid to go there, their grief will be on public display. So we do what we can to try and ask people to be respectful and that’s all we can do really.

LISA: Alison Bucknell was a member of Wootton Bassett’s Town Council. Town residents lined what has become known as the highway of heroes again today, to honor four more.

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