Last week I was in west London attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer.

I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen.

Moving through the terminal was a group of soldiers in their uniforms; as they began heading to their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering.

When I saw the soldiers, probably 30 to 40 of them, being applauded and cheered it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red-blooded Briton who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families.

Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and women, a young girl, not more than six or seven years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers. He knelt down and said "hi". The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her. The young soldier didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself. He said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.

The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter's name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a corporal and had been in Afghanistan for five months now. As the mum was explaining how much her daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.

When this temporarily single mum was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.

After about 10 to 15 seconds of this the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her: "I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you." He then hugged this little girl who he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying: "Your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon." The mum at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and her mum.

As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own.

R L Pearce