HUNDREDS of mourners gathered today for the funeral of a teenage soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Private Robert Laws, of the 2nd Battalion Mercian Regiment, died in Helmand province on Saturday, July 4 when his vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

The 18-year-old, known to friends as Robbie, was taking part in an operation involving around 3,000 soldiers to improve security in the area north of Lashkar Gah.

In his home town of Bromsgrove, family, friends and colleagues congregated to pay tribute to the young soldier described as "the life and soul of the platoon".

Pte Laws' coffin, draped in the Union flag, was carried into St John's Church by a bearer party made up of members of his regiment and a volley of shots was fired in the church grounds.

Every pew was full, and more than a 100 mourners stood outside as the service, with full military honours, was conducted.

Private Matthew Pierce, of the 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh, told the congregation he had become close to Pte Laws when they trained together last year at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate.

Describing him as a "wonderful person" he said: "He was the life and soul of the platoon. He was caring, but at the same time, carefree."

The service was conducted by The Rev Colin Butler, the padre for 143 West Midlands Brigade, and the Rev Andy Stand, of St John's Church.

Delivering the sermon, Mr Butler said Pte Laws had an "open and engaging character", winning him many friends in Bromsgrove.

He said the teenage soldier's parents, Wendy and Steve, described their son as "a morale booster - always smiling, always with something funny to say."

Mr Butler added: "I've read and listened to many stories about Robbie. In my minds eye, I see a lad with a broad and probably mischievous smile.

"Someone who knew him at Catterick where he completed his initial training as an infantryman wrote that he used to make the section (a small team) laugh - whether it was sleeping all the time, his giddy sense of humour or his random taste in music."

The congregation laughed as the padre told how Pte Laws had tried to appear shorter than his true height when nurses examined him before he joined the Army.

"The first time he tried to join he didn't succeed; he was too thin," he said.

He went on: "Second time around what would he do?

"The nurses who examined him were surprised to find he'd apparently shrunk in size - Robbie deliberately made himself smaller to increase his BMI (Body Mass Index) and so reach the standard required. That's the ingenuity of the infantryman."

Mr Butler added: "Robbie lost his life many, many miles from Bromsgrove - in Helmand Province, where he was taking part in an attack to capture land and free the people from the intimidation of the Taliban.

"Robbie lost his life doing what he wished to do, being a soldier, and for what he'd been prepared for through excellent preparation.

"He was with men who would have done everything they could for him, just as he'd have done so for them."

He quoted Pte Laws' Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Simon Banton, who said after his death: "He was a warm and cheerful young man who mucked in when there was work to be done and quickly made friends.

"Robbie's falling has taken a good soldier from us; a man who was not afraid to move forward, endure hardship, and he had the courage to fight the enemy alongside his brothers."

Bringing the service to a close, the padre invited the congregation to join him in a round of applause for Pte Laws.

Speaking after the service, Major Richard Johnson, Officer Commanding Anzio Company, said Pte Laws had struck him as "quiet and intellectual" during his time at the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick in January this year.

He said: "He was a quiet individual but, when he did speak, people stopped to listen."

He said Pte Laws excelled in shooting, especially given his slight frame, and had become an "influential character" within the platoon.

A private cremation was held at Redditch Crematorium after the funeral, followed by a reception at a Bromsgrove social club.

The family requested that any donations made in Pte Laws' memory be given to the Help For Heroes charity.