IT will be one of the most difficult days of her life. This morning, on the podium at the Hampshire barracks where her daughter Eleanor did her Army medical training, Sally Veck will stand in silence as the Last Post sounds.

Consumed with the grief that still overwhelms her every day, she will remember the beautiful daughter who would always do what she could to help others.

Eleanor Dlugosz, or Ella as she was known to friends, was killed when the Warrior armoured vehicle she was travelling in was hit by a roadside bomb as it travelled just outside Basra in the early hours of Thursday, April 6.

Three of her colleagues and a translator also died in what military chiefs described as the worst attack on British troops since 2003.

She had only been back in the war-torn country for a month when she was killed by insurgents, having returned to Hampshire to complete her training as a medic at barracks in Aldershot.

Describing her daughter as "my action girl", Mrs Veck said nothing could have stopped her serving her country.

Having dreamed of joining the Army, she had her career mapped out and was hoping to one day join the civilian police force or become a lab technician - but only after she had progressed in the Army.

Mrs Veck and her relatives are among 168 families who have lost a son or daughter, husband or wife, mum, dad or grandchild since 2003.

But today her thoughts will also be with those who continue to serve on the frontline across the world, doing a job that her daughter simply loved.

Speaking to the Daily Echo from her Swanmore home, a tearful Mrs Veck said: "Eleanor is always in my head every minute of every day. She lived for her job and very much loved what she did, helping others.

"She was never going to be a shop girl. She wanted a career and she wanted a reason. She wanted to make a difference.

"I am sure whoever she helped, whether it was medically or whether it was by helping them polish their shoes or even by simply smiling at them and helping them get through another hour, she made that difference."

Mrs Veck recalled how Eleanor, a keen horse rider and former pupil of Swanmore Primary School, had once tried to calm her anxious family's fears by laughing about how a bomb had hit the British Military Base in Iraq on Christmas Day and roast potatoes had ended up on the floor.

Mrs Veck said: "We always tried to see the brighter side of life, even now, but it is so hard."

Last month Mrs Veck attended the unveiling of the first ever national Armed Forces Memorial in Staffordshire where vast Portland Stone walls hold the names of almost 16,000 people who have given their lives in service.

Eleanor's name is among the many that are still waiting to be inscribed.

It was there that she was greeted by Prince Charles, who was attending with his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, who had nothing but praise for the teenager.

She said; "Prince Charles shook hands with me and he started talking - he knew all about Eleanor. He has been out there and now does a lot for people who have been injured. He told me how devastating it was and what a remarkable girl Eleanor had come across as.

"He is very good and does a lot behind the scenes. We hadn't been told he was going to be there but it was nice that he came to talk to us and knew about my daughter. It was hard being there, but every day is hard."

She added: "The people of Swanmore should be proud to know that when they put their money in the collection tins this year and wear their poppies that my Eleanor, my star, was a local girl."

This morning Mrs Veck will attend Keogh Barracks in Aldershot, the home of the country's defence medical training where Eleanor qualified as a medic, and join representatives from various regiments including the Grenadier Guards to remember those who have fallen and those currently in service around the world.

Anticipating it was likely to be an unbearable day at a place which once held so much joy when her daughter passed out, she said: "I will think of my beautiful little girl and I will also remember those currently serving out there. We should remember them, wherever they are in the world, every single day."