THE leafy village of Rainford has been the scene of a massive military funeral, which created traffic diversions, such was the volume of old comrades among the congregation.

They were at Corpus Christi Church to pay their last respects to former Irish Guards sergeant John Patrick 'Spud' Murphy, of Ormskirk Road, who died in Whiston Hospital, aged 77.

Irish Guards Association members in dress uniform, along with other military personnel, slow-marched from Sergeant Murphy's home to church, where they formed a guard-of-honour.

A Funeral Mass in thanksgiving for his life was celebrated by two former Irish Guards officers, Canon Michael Casey and Reverend the Honourable Piers Grant-Ferris, and psalms were sung by the regimental association choir

The honour guard dipped their flags in salute as the coffin, draped with the Brigade of Guards flag and bearing Sergeant Murphy's campaign medals and beret, left the church preceded by a regimental piper, bugler and drummers.

Raised in Bryn Street and the son of a First World War sergeant, Mr Murphy served throughout the1939-45 conflict and later as a battery sergeant major in a Royal Artillery unit of the Territorial Army.

Enlisting before the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Sergeant Murphy went to France with the British Expeditionary Force and was torpedoed during the evacuation from Dunkirk.

After re-training he was seconded to the armoured division of the Irish Guards and served as Sherman tank commander and saw action in many theatres of war, including D-Day, Arnhem, the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhine crossing.

Wounded in the latter campaign, he joined the 'Terriers' on demobilisation and was awarded the Queen's Territorial Army Medal for his dedicated service with the 436 Light Ack-Ack battery.

'Spud' Murphy also did great work as an instructor with the Army Cadet Force until recent years, and in the words of a military contemporary was one of the 'boys of the old brigade' and a thoroughly professional soldier until the end of his life.

Mr. Murphy is survived by his daughter Pauline Wright, step-son Errol Mooney, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.