A FULL military funeral will be held for a popular Redditch soldier who died following a tragic motorbike accident last month.

Former Abbey High School pupil Stuart Rogers, 23, had always dreamt of joining the Army and was a keen member of the Headless Cross Cadets from the age of 13.

At 16, Stuart left school to pursue his ambition and joined the Queen's Royal Hussars Regiment, passing out when he was just 17-years-old.

After a year, the regiment transferred to Germany where Stuart, known as Buck, met and married Julie in December 2001.

The couple had their first child, daughter Faith, in January 2003.

Stuart's proud mum Linda Rogers, of Greenlands, said: "Stuart did two tours in Kosovo. The first time he actually volunteered and went in with the Irish Guards. He found it hard and said the worst thing about it was the children.

"When they went from Macedonia into Kosovo he said there were 50-mile convoys and the children would just run up to the soldiers hugging them and giving them flowers. Stuart got particularly upset when a child who only had one leg came hobbling over to greet him."

Lance Corporal Stuart was the best gunner in his regiment and was handpicked to work directly for the squadron's Commanding Officer.

And more recently Stuart was serving in Iraq where, on his days off, he was able to take part in one of his favourite hobbies, fishing.

"Stuart did not say much about Iraq, it was just described as gritty and not very nice.

"He returned in April after the Black Watch Regiment moved in to relieve them," explained Mrs Rogers.

Stuart's other great love was motorbikes and he returned to Redditch in May to take his test before buying what Mrs Rogers described as "the biggest bike he could."

Mrs Rogers said: "I was so proud of Stuart. He was up for promotion following the tour in Iraq. He lived life to the full. Everything he did he did with gusto and he had a great sense of humour."

Mrs Rogers said Stuart also had a real soft side and when he was in Kosovo, the Irish Guards took in and looked after an abandoned kitten. "It was so funny, all these great big men with a hard image, and they're all a bunch of softies really," added Mrs Rogers.

Stuart's funeral will take place at Redditch Crematorium on Friday, November 19, at 3pm.