Second-Lieutenant Judit Ábrahám war heroine killed in action in Afghanistan on 23rd of August, was buried in her home village, Alacska, on Monday afternoon.

The leaders of the MOD and the HDF, soldiers representing all the corps of the HDF took part at the burial-service and the funeral. The soldiers of the 8th rotation of the PRT who had returned from Afghanistan also attended the event.

Judit Ábrahám was commemorated by Colonel Zsolt Sándor, the commander of HDF 25th ‘György Klapka’ Infantry Brigade: “One young heart is not beating any more. Judit Ábrahám has been killed as a heroine. She lived as a heroine and we have lost her as a heroine: she has given the most precious thing for the homeland, her life.” Following the speech the local minister bade farewell to war heroine Judit Ábrahám.

A few days earlier at 6 o’clock in the morning the Hungarian flag was flying half-mast in the Memorial Garden of Camp Marmal, Afghanistan. The command of ISAF Northern Region bade farewell to Second-Lieutenant Judit Ábrahám killed in action on August 23.

After singing the anthem together, First Lieutenant Róbert Kótai priest of HDF PRT 9th rotation said a prayer tribute to the heroine. Major General Hanz-Werner Fritz Command of ISAF’s Regional Command North was the next to give a speech. The Major General emphasized that the death of Second-Lieutenant Judit Ábrahám is as painful to the whole Regional Command North as to Hungary. Afterwards Colonel Gyula Révész, commander of National Support Element Afghanistan gave his speech.

He emphasized that the insurgents launched an attack on the Hungarian convoy from a coward, sneaky ambush not giving any chance for Judit to survive. He praised the military career of Judit Ábrahám, mentioning the outstanding work she had accomplished in Macedonia, Kosovo and the Afghanistan missions. Afghanistan bade farewell to posthumous Second- Lieutenant Judit Ábrahám paying a respect to the heroine. She will remain in the soldiers’ memory forever.

The mortal remains of posthumous lieutenant Judit Ábrahám were transported to Hungary on Sunday, August 29. The body of the Hungarian heroine killed in Afghanistan was received with military honours - in the presence of the mourning family members and the leaders of the HDF - at the 59th ‘Dezső Szentgyörgyi’ Air Base in Kecskemét on August 29.

Dr Csaba Hende gave a speech at the reception of the heroine.

“Dear Second-Lieutenant, Dear Judit!

We are welcoming you home with pain in our hearts. We are welcoming you although you are far away. You have passed into an unknown province where nobody has ever returned from.

Dear Second-Lieutenant, Dear Judit!

Life of a soldier is a service. It is a service for the homeland. It is a service forever if necessary. These are not simply words but it is reality. Now we have to face it again.

This vocation demands a whole person and requires absolute dedication. Joining the army you learnt: you undertook the soldiers’ lives and shared their fate. You became a member of the community completing the mission, living the life of a soldier.

Now that your fate has been fulfilled, comrades are standing around you carrying you. Your coffin is draped in our nation’s flag. The nation you gave everything to. The truth is 2000 years old: “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

This community and this nation will remember you: you joined the hundreds of thousands of Hungarian troops who had been passing ahead in the path of our common history. You belong to those who lived and died for the homeland.

Dear Second-Lieutenant, Dear Judit!

The whole country is mourning. Here we stand; the whole HDF and the whole nation are standing by your husband and your family members. In the pit-black hours of shock and pain all of us are comforted by our beliefs: the mercy of God, the power of the profession and the service, the sense that you have lived a meaningful and beautiful life.

A Hungarian servicewoman was killed, another takes her place. We must go on because the eternal law of military life dictates our mission which is to go on serving. We will go on, but we will never forget you.

We will meet. We will definitely meet at the end of the road.”