THE father of an East Lancashire soldier killed in Afghanistan has backed the homecoming parade for Lancashire soldiers.

Lance Corporal Jordan Dean Bancroft, of 1st Battalion Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, was shot dead by insurgents on August 21.

Now his father Tony Bancroft is urging people to show their support for the homecoming parade in Blackburn on December 1.

He said: “I want people to support all the young men who are fighting in conflicts at the moment from divisions across the country.

“It is important because they are fighting for everyone who lives in peace in this country and for those who died the community needs to show that we have not forgotten their sacrifice.

“Jordan would have wanted people to come out and welcome the soldiers because he knew how hard things can get for them.”

More than 120 soldiers are to march through the streets of Blackburn to celebrate their return from Afghanistan.

The 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment will be honoured at a homecoming service at Blackburn Cathedral.

In full uniform the soldiers will then exercise the regiment's right under the Freedom of the Borough to march through town.

The regiment is made up of 600 soldiers, around a quarter of whom are from East Lancashire.

The battalion consists entirely of frontline fighting troops, and much of its work in Afghanistan has been patrolling recently secured Taliban territory.

It was on one of these missions that Lance Corporal Bancroft, from Earby, was killed in a gun fight.

Soldiers returning from Afghanistan are due to receive their Operation Service medals in Catterick next month.

The last time soldiers marched through Blackburn was in October 2001 when the former Queen's Lancashire Regiment celebrated the Freedom of the Borough, which was awarded in 1948.