There will be an empty chair reserved for fallen Bradford paratrooper Private Martin Bell as his brother marries in a poignant ceremony on Armistice Day.
Oliver Bell, 27, had chosen Martin as the joint best man for his wedding to Vicky Yewdall before the brave soldier was killed in a bomb blast after saving the life of an injured soldier in Afghanistan.
A place will be set at the top table for the couple’s reception at Bradford’s Midland Hotel in tribute to Pte Bell after their wedding at Bradford Cathedral on Friday.
Oliver, 27, of Idle, said: “This is an important way for us to include my brother in the wedding because he cannot be there.
“We were all really close and I think Martin would be proud."
More than 170 guests, including members of Pte Bell’s former regiment 2 Para, family and friends have been invited to the wedding.
During the ceremony, a candle and photograph of Pte Bell will be placed in the Cathedral’s remembrance window.
Poppies will be included in the flower arrangements and the bridesmaid will wear maroon – the colour of the Parachute Regiment’s prized berets.
Bradford Cathedral was chosen as the wedding venue because it was where Pte Bell’s funeral was held in February.
Miss Yewdall, who will celebrate her birthday on her wedding day, said: “We have a mixed feeling of excitement and emotion because we will be back in the cathedral. We specifically wanted it there because it is where Martin was laid to rest.
“It seemed like a fitting tribute to him.”
Miss Yewdall, 29, added: “It will be difficult because he was always going to be best man with Oliver’s other brother, Philip, when we planned the wedding a long time ago.
“We have made sure we have still got a seat for him at the top table.”
Pte Bell, 24, defied a direct order to save badly-injured colleague Pte Scott Meenagh, but died in an explosion minutes later.
He had put tourniquets on his colleague’s legs and was trying to find a way to get him back to safety when he was caught in a blast from another Improvised Explosive Device in January.
He was later found face down in a reed bed by soldiers who had formed a search party for him, an inquest into his death heard.
At his funeral, his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Andy Harrison, described him as “the epitome of courage” and said saving Pte Meenagh’s life was “one of the bravest acts” he had witnessed in 23 years of soldiering.
Pte Bell, a former Salt Grammar School pupil and PCSO in the Worth Valley, will be posthumously awarded the George Medal for his bravery.
e-mail: marc.meneaud@telegraphandargus.co.uk
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