EAST Lancashire's war heroes could be home by the end of next month, it was revealed today.

Soldiers have said in letters home that they are likely to return by the end of May -- but they still have important, even gruesome, jobs to carry out in Iraq before they leave.

Clive Fawcett, 37, a father-of-three from Lower Darwen, is a warrant officer in the Royal Logistics Corps.

But while he is in Iraq one of his duties is the grisly task of picking up the body parts of dead Iraqis so that they can be returned to the families of the dead for a proper burial.

Clive, who moved to Darwen in January after seven years in Germany, has been leading a team which puts the body parts from the desert floor into bags.

Wife Diane said that if the soldiers want counselling afterwards they are offered it.

She said: "It's not a very nice job, but it's got to be done.

"He said he is coming home soon. I don't know exactly when. Hopefully it will be soon, we are just waiting."

Padiham mum Marion Smith is hoping to have her son James back soon from Iraq.

However, James's situation has been complicated by him suffering from Deep Vein Thrombosis.

The army will not fly him home after he suffered DVT in October last year so he has to wait for a ship to bring him back.

Marion, whose other son Jason served in the 1991 Gulf conflict, said: "He was shipped out there and will have to be shipped back.

"I am not right sure when. There is a ship in two weeks, he said, so hopefully he will get on that."

Marion has backed a successful campaign to have a Union Jack hoisted above the Padiham town hall as a measure of support .

"I saw it today and it looked great," she said. Steve Dixon whose step-mother Katherine lives in Bold Street, Accrington, has sent a letter saying he could be back from serving in Iraq in two or three weeks.

Steve, who is based near Umm Qasar, could be returning while uncle Dieter Seager, of Wellington Street, Accrington, who was a 'human shield' before the war began, remains in Iraq.

And 18-year-old medic Aly-Joy Haworth from Great Harwood is likely to be back in the middle of May.

Mum Stephanie was disappointed as she was due to come home on Sunday.

Meanwhile a former Stonyhurst College pupil, Captain James Moulton of the Irish Guards, has been honoured by America's 'Time' magazine for his bravery in the Iraq War.

Captain Moulton, 27, stuck his head and shoulders out of the turret of his Warrior armoured vehicle to draw enemy fire in Basra.

Captain Moulton left Stonyhurst College in 1994 and was a member of the College's Combined Cadet Force during his time there.