Conflict in Iraq and casualties among coalition forces are foremost in many of our minds today.

But there is nothing new in Gulf war casualties as Dave Legg, from Bexhill, can testify.

His uncle, a private, died in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in 1914 aged only 24, just days before British forces captured the territory.

That was during the First World War, which saw the greatest numbers of casualties among troops in recorded history.

Modern warfare of the type being waged in Iraq should hopefully avoid the kind of mass slaughter often accepted as inevitable 90 years ago.

But there will certainly be many casualties and we should all honour their memories as Mr Legg does of his uncle.