Background
Jonathan Hollingsworth was born in 1971, in Rotherham, Yorkshire and lived in Hull, he was married and had two sons.
Jonathan Hollingsworth was born in 1971, in Rotherham, Yorkshire and lived in Hull, he was married and had two sons.
Hollingsworth deployed with Doctorate squadron in 2006 and was assigned to "Hathor" detachment. A British special forces detachment that carried out operations against Iraqi insurgents in Basra. In early November, Only weeks before his death and shortly before his squadron was due to return to the United Kingdom, Sgt Hollingsworth was leading a raid ahead of his team on an insurgent-occupied building when he was shot in the back of the neck during an operation in Basra.
The bullet missed his carotid artery by millimetres but, he returned to the United Kingdom for treatment and returned to Iraq within days rather than taking time off to recover.
He was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for his actions in Iraqsources suggest it was for single-handedly killing six insurgents during a raid only weeks before his death. On the night of 23/24 November 2006, "Hathor" detachment was given a mission to strike a block of insurgent occupied flats in Basra, the flats were located in a hostile part of the city and were full of families.
Hollingsworth was in overall charge of the mission of the assault teams. Hollingsworth was shot early on in the raid and was evacuated to a British military hospital at Shaibah, but died soon afterwards, none of the targets the assault teams were looking for were apprehended and no weapons were recovered.
He was the 126th British soldier to be killed in operations in Iraq.
Hollingsworth was repatriated in a discreet funeral at Credenhill, his widow was invited to a private meeting with then Prime minister Tony Blair. "Sgt Hollingsworth was killed on a successful operation to detain those who were known to attack both civilian and military personnel. He did not die in vain.".
Hollingsworth was the first member of the British Special Forces to be killed in action since Operation Abalone on 31 October 2003.
