The bodies of several British soldiers killed in Iraq were flown back for burial in the U.K. This is indicative of how government policy related to the war dead has changed from the period of the World Wars. I need to determine the exact moment that the policy shifted. I think it was during the mid-1970s because by the point of the Falklands War in the early 1980s British war dead were brought back.

The coffins were placed in hearses waiting to transfer the bodies into the care of the Wiltshire coroner.

As the procession of vehicles passed through the town Wootton Bassett a few miles away, local councillors and members of the public stood in silence as a mark of respect.

The bodies were taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where post mortem examinations will be conducted.

On Wednesday, a sunset ceremony was held at a base in Basra, southern Iraq, before the bodies were flown to the UK.

The complete story from BBC News: “Soldiers’ bodies flown back to UK”