A MOTHER whose son was killed in Afghanistan wept as she recalled lines from a letter he wrote in the event of his death.

Lieutenant John Thornton, 22, of 40 Commando Royal Marines, was conducting a patrol near Kajaki, in Helmand Providence, shortly before 5pm local time on Sunday when his vehicle was caught in a blast.

He was two weeks away from the end of tour.

Marine David Marsh, 23, was also killed.

Lt Thornton's mother Linda recalled the opening line of her son's letter which read: "Dear Mum and Dad. If you are reading this something has obviously not gone to plan."

Speaking at the family home in Ferndown, with photographs of her son and sympathy cards on the mantelpiece, the proud mother said: "That was so John but it is just such a comfort. I could do with one more minute with him and that's his little minute with us.

"It was very thoughtful of him to do that and another example of him thinking about others before himself.'' Brother, Ian, 25, who is currently in Officer Training at the Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, near Exmouth, said: "He always said he would rather die early, having lived that dream, than grow old having worked in a bank all his life.

"Better a year as a lion than a decade as a donkey."

Lt Thornton's father Peter said his son was 13-years-old when he announced he wanted to join the Royal Marines.

He said: "It was the only thing he ever wanted to do. It was always going to be in the Marines. He would not have been content with another service, the Marines were the best at whatever they did."

Lt Thornton, known as JT, joined the Royal Marines on August 31, 2004, and had previously served in Iraq.

He was to celebrate his 23rd birthday on April 12 and was due home from Afghanistan on April 18.

Mr Thornton described his son as "perfect" and added: "He had a big heart and always had time for everyone which is why there are so many messages of support coming in." He said it made his family angry when people tried to blame the Ministry of Defence for the deaths of servicemen.

"They have the top notch kit. It really annoys us and it really annoyed John the attitude of people. He certainly wanted for nothing operationally."

Ian added: "The anger is towards the common misconception that the troops are badly equipped because they are not.

Having spoken to John, he said the equipment was fantastic. Talking about whether the vehicles could be better armoured is pretty ridiculous.

"When this has happened in the past and service men and women have been killed, people try to spin it round and blame the Government."

His body will be repatriated from Afghanistan to the UK on Friday morning.