A GRIEVING mother has again paid tribute to her son, five years after he was killed in Afghanistan.

Lorraine McClure remembers her son Private Aaron McClure, 19, as her “rock” and “protector” and says she wakes up thinking about him every day.

He was serving with B-company, 1st Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, when he was killed by friendly fire in Helmand Province on August 23, 2007.

“It still seems like it’s the first year since we lost Aaron,” Miss McClure said.

“That day was the worst in my life and I still have nightmares about that knock on the door. That day stays in my mind as clear as when it happened.”

Pte McClure spent four months in Afghanistan before his death but his mother is grateful for the two weeks he had at home before returning to the war-torn country.

Miss McClure, of Marlow Road, Ipswich, said: “The month before he died he came home for his R&R. In that time he had changed from my little boy and into a man.

“I could see his mind was still in Afghanistan. He was very quiet and distant, and spent a lot of the time doing his own thing.”

His grandmother Vi Currie, of Whitby Road, Ipswich, said he was in the cadets as a boy and all he wanted to do was join the Army.

“He loved the Army and what he was doing for his country. Aaron had his head screwed on and had a plan for his life,” she said.

“August is a very hard month for the whole family. I can see how it makes Lorraine feel and the effect on his three brothers.”

Miss McClure added: “I have learned to cope but believe me I wake up thinking of Aaron every day.”

The family spent yesterday together and visited Mr McClure’s grave at Ipswich’s Millennium Cemetery.