TODAY, Middlesbrough will stand still for a moment. It will reflect. It will show its respect as a town and community to Charlie Wood.

This column is dedicated to him and to the values that he and thousands of his fellow servicemen and women stand for.

It is about how we can best show respect – not just today but every day.

Warrant Officer Class Two Charles Henry Wood from 23 Pioneer Regiment RLC (Royal Logistic Corps) was killed in Afghanistan three days after Christmas.

You will have seen in the papers or on the TV about his qualities; his sense of duty, sense of decency and sense of humour; his devotion to his family and to the service that was his life for 16 years; the skill, courage, professionalism and selflessness that we almost take for granted among service people.

I didn’t know Charlie Wood, regrettably, because I am sure it would have been a privilege and a pleasure.

But I have met and talked with scores of people like him over the past few years and invariably left those encounters humble and grateful for the work they do and the appalling risks they run to keep us safe.

So with thousands of other people today I will be showing my respect to him as a soldier and as a symbol of so much that is good in our national life.

But while doing that we must never forget that to some people Charlie Wood was far more than that. He was a husband, son, brother, uncle, best friend. We can’t really comprehend or share the grief of those people, the ones who really knew him as an individual.

But we have to try.

When the services and ceremonies are over, we go back to our safe little lives but we must not forget that their lives have changed forever. We must try to support them in every way we can.

There is a great danger that we forget until the next time a death is reported in Afghanistan or some other theatre of conflict.

If we want to show respect, lasting respect, we must not do that. Because we owe it to Charlie Wood and to all the British service people who have died keeping us safe: call it a debt of honour.

Here are a few ways we can show that respect.

Maybe they aren’t very original, maybe you can think of better ones, but here goes.

First, it is the job of politicians to ensure that nations sort out their differences without fighting. We should make sure they do that job properly and never blunder into conflict.

We’ll never stop all wars. The world is a bad and brutal place sometimes. But if conflict cannot be avoided we must make sure that our service people are given the best possible support and equipment to do their job also.

We must ensure that their pay and the support provided for them and their families during and after their service reflects the importance of the job they do. We must make far better use of the remarkable personal and life skills of ex-service men and women.

Finally we should all make an effort to support the service charities that Charlie Wood himself did so much good work for.

I don’t pretend for one moment that if we do these things that we will take away the pain that the fortunate few, the people who knew Charlie Wood, feel today and will continue to feel for some time.

But they will be marks of respect. People like him are irreplaceable and so are the values and qualities they embody and we can’t afford to lose them.