TWO school friends of Olaf Schmid came to the funeral to pay tribute.

Grace Butler and Chantel Oates both went to Penair Secondary School in Truro with the soldier.

Ms Butler, 30, a doctor, said: "He was just a really nice guy, always up for a laugh.

"He just on really well with everyone, he was a really top man.

"When I heard about his death it was pretty devastating.

"It really brings it home to you. You see it on the news all the time, but when it's someone you know, it really brings it home."

Ms Oates, also 30, a nursery nurse, said: "I had to collect Oz and bring him to the classroom on his first day of school, that's my first memory of him.

"We went on to be really good friends. We were quite close for a couple of years, he was just a really nice guy.

"When I heard he had died I couldn't quite take it in. I cried and had to keep rewinding the news before I realised he had actually died."