FAMILIES of young soldiers who died at Army barracks last night pledged to respectfully honour non-combatant deaths at the Cenotaph next month.

Parents of nine recruits who died in recent years at Deepcut, in Surrey, and other barracks, including Catterick, in North Yorkshire, have been invited to join the Remembrance Day parade at Whitehall.

The invitation came from the Royal British Legion after an appeal by Geoff Gray, father of Private Geoff Gray, from Seaham, County Durham, who died at Deepcut in 2001.

Mr Gray was angry that Lynne Farr, whose son, Daniel, died at Catterick in 1997, was initially refused a place in the parade by the Department of Constitutional Affairs.

It deemed her request as inappropriate as the soldiers were not victims of war.

The department has since said it was a misunderstanding, as it was thought Mrs Farr wanted to lay wreaths at the cenotaph alongside the Queen and other leading dignitaries.

Last night, Mr Gray said that 18 invitations have been split among nine families, but conceded it was difficult to divide them up to all those who wanted to attend.

He said he felt it was an honour that they were invited to join in the civilian section of the parade, on November 9.

"I spoke to the Royal British Legion. They were excellent - were very good about it.

"It's only right really when you consider that in the past 12 years there have been more non-combat deaths than those who have lost their lives in the various conflicts, in the Falklands, the Gulf, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone and Iraq.

"We will be honouring all those who pledged their service to their country, but for whatever reason died before they were able to go into a conflict situation.

"I know that we will be swamped by TV cameras and the like, but I have made my views known to all those coming down - it is not a personal crusade, it is for everyone who died, in whatever circumstance, while in service.

"It will be a peaceful and dignified way of honouring these young men and women."

Mr Gray's wife, Diane, will pass on a wreath to be placed at the Cenotaph to all the estimated 1,800 non-combat victims in recent years.