Remembering the Fallen: on this day in 2012, Corporal Michael John Thacker, from 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh, was killed in Afghanistan. He was part of the Fire Support Group manning Observation Post ‘Tir’ in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province when he was hit by small arms fire. He had served in Iraq and Northern Ireland, and this was his third deployment to Afghanistan. He is remembered as being brave, resolute, highly respected, and full of life. His friend, Sgt. Russell Palmer, paid this tribute: "Mike, I want to start by saying sleep well my friend, you will never be forgotten. You will always be a part of mine and Danielle’s memories and always in our hearts. Memories, we’ve got a lot of them. I will miss dancing on the bar with you; both of us thinking we were looking really good. I’ll also miss your OCD for cleaning everything. You are the bloke that everyone knows, and if they didn’t know you they got to know you because everyone needs a piece of Mike Thacker in their life. I will miss you every day and life will never be the same. You are a true hero and one day we will be reunited. Mike was one-in-a-million, rest well my good friend, miss you forever." Mike was 27 years old and married with a two-year-old daughter.