Last updated at 22:53, Monday, 23 June 2008

They enjoyed “the most perfect wedding” two years ago in the picturesque riverside village of Wetheral.

Sarah Bryant and her father Des Feely

A choir sang in the sandstone church as blushing bride Sarah Feely, 26, married her army sweetheart Carl Bryant who proudly wore his military uniform.

Animal lover Sarah, a keen horsewoman, had arrived at the church in a horse-drawn carriage.

Her father, Des Feely, of Cotehill, said: “It was the most perfect wedding any girl could have wished for.”

He added: “I don’t know how Carl is going to cope with her death.”

Their dream wedding followed a romance that blossomed during their recruitment to the Intelligence Corps.

The Army had also sent them on tours of duty together until Sarah went to Afghanistan in March.

Sarah, a veteran of two six-month tours of Iraq, had only recently told her father in an email shortly before her death that they had been promoted to the rank of sergeant together.

But now she is returning home to Cumbria a fallen hero and is expected to be buried at the church in which she married.

She was killed on Tuesday – the first British female soldier to die in the Afghanistan conflict – when the vehicle in which she was travelling was caught in an explosion in Helmund Province.

Her husband, Cpl Carl Bryant, said: “Although I am devastated beyond words at the death of my beautiful wife Sarah, I am so incredibly proud of her.

“She was an awesome soldier who died doing the job that she loved.

“My wife knew the risks, she was there because she wanted to be and she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“She was funny, kind and the most amazing person to be around. I will never stop being thankful for the time I spent as her husband. I love her now and always, with all my heart, as do her proud parents, friends and family.

“My wife was a truly special person who died a hero. Sarah, as with all our fallen, must never be forgotten.”

Sarah last visited Cumbria just a couple of weeks ago when she had a week’s break from her five-month tour of Afghanistan, which was due to end next month.

In an emotional interview outside his Cotehill home, Sarah’s father, a former manager of Brampton Conservative Club for almost 20 years, fought back tears as he revealed that he last spoke to his daughter – an only child – on Father’s Day.

Mr Feely, 55, said: “She rang me on Father’s Day, it was the usual thing. I was in Ireland on Father’s Day at my mother’s house and she called me from Afghanistan and the comment was that it was going to be the first Father’s Day phone call I’d had from Afghanistan. It turns out it was also the last.

“A couple of days ago I received a subsequent email from her to say that her and her husband had just been promoted to sergeant.

“She really was the one and only. She had been an absolute angel all her life. I was incredibly proud of her.”

He also said his daughter was “incredibly bubbly” and “would light up any room she went in”.

Mr Feely spoke fondly of his daughter’s love of horses.

He said: “Sarah was a keen horsewoman. Living out here in the Cumbrian countryside, it was a perfect location for Sarah to naturally go into horse-riding activities.

“At a very early age she had her horse called Monty. Monty sadly had a stroke and had to be put down a few years ago. Sarah actually held him as he went. He is buried at the top [of the land] where it says ‘Monty’s Corner’ and her stable was at the back here.”

Even as a child, Sarah enjoyed flying with her father, who has held a private pilot’s licence for over 30 years. Together, they would fly out of Carlisle Airport.

She went to school in Cotehill and Cumwhinton before moving on to secondary school at Caldew in Dalston.

Mr Feely said: “It was while she was at Caldew, her friends told me, that she first got the army bug. There was an Army careers visit to the school.

“She strived to get the best qualifications she could at Caldew to get a successful entry level into the army.

“Once there, for some strange reason, she had her route planned out in advance. It was unbelievable. She knew she wanted to be military intelligence.

“At one stage she wanted to be a vet but the TV show Vets in Practice and the stress of the exams [to become a vet] put her off it.”

Speaking of her decision to join the Intelligence Corps, Mr Feely said: “I was obviously worried at first about her going in.

“But every time she would come back from her induction interviews she would fill me with more and more confidence of the level of professionalism of the organisation she was entering into.

“Sarah was confident in the undertakings she was asked to perform by the military. Her main role, given the 13th century attitudes of that part of the world, was to search and interrogate female prisoners.

“Lots of the children there knew her and called her by her first name on a daily basis.

He added: “She did not speak about the dangers because it was intelligence work – she could not talk about it.

“She would not talk at all about the work she undertook on a daily basis but she told me how interesting and exciting it was and she loved every minute of it.”

Mr Feely was told the news by family friends before the Army arrived. Sarah’s mother Maureen, who is no longer with him, had asked them to inform him.

He added: “People say about the dreaded knock on the door but more fortunately friends had called round. My wife had been told first and she told friends to come round and be with me.

“They had got here before the Army and in that sense it was much better being told by friends than at 1am by a total stranger that your daughter is dead.”

• Last week five soldiers from the Parachute Regiment were killed in two separate incidents in Afghanistan.

The victims included Carlisle man Charles David Murray, 19, who was killed along with two comrades.

They all died as a suicide bomber detonated his device next to them in Helmand Province.

Pte Murray’s funeral will be held with full military honours next week.

First published at 07:57, Friday, 20 June 2008
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk