Two 直面するs of courage: The 海洋 maimed in Afghanistan and the little girl who lost her daddy

By David Wilkes for the Daily Mail
Updated: 12:51 BST, 11 November 2010

One 生き残るd 存在 blown up but has lost a 脚 in the prime of life; the other has no father at an age when loss should not be part of her w orld.

Yesterday, on the eve of Armistice Day, strapping 王室の 海洋 Tristan Sykes and little Molly 沼 現在のd two very different 直面するs of courage as they learn to live with the 悲劇の cost of the Afghanistan 衝突.

海洋 Sykes, 30, 負傷させるd when his armoured 乗り物 was 破壊するd by a 道端 爆弾, told with remarkable spirit how having his left 脚 amputated was ‘解放するing’ after 耐えるing a 一連の 操作／手術s to save it.

A rose for my 勇敢に立ち向かう daddy: Little Molly 沼 yesterday laid the rose at the base of a tree in memory of her father Dave 沼

‘I’ve got a new beginning now. I have my freedom,’ he said, looking 今後 to having a prosthetic 脚 fitted. ‘When I take my first steps. I’m going to have a 大規模な party.

‘存在 able to play ゴルフ again with the lads, go running with my girlfriend, play squash with my brother ? just to be 支援する to normality is going to be fantastic.

‘This has been a hard 決定／判定勝ち（する） but it is also 解放するing.’

A place of contemplation: The tree 献身的な to Molly's father Dave is の中で dozens that have been 工場／植物d in a new 記念の garden to honour fallen 兵士s

Three-year-old Molly laid a 選び出す／独身 red rose at the base of a tree in memory of her father Dave 沼 at the 開始 of a new 記念の garden at 40 特殊部隊員’s （警察，軍隊などの）本部 近づく Taunton.

He was also a 海洋 and was killed 老年の 23 in Helmand 州 in March 2008.

Wife Claire, of nearby Taunton, Somerset, 述べるd him as going ‘through life with a smile on his 直面する, which will continue through our beautiful daughter’.

海洋 Sykes also has a 肯定的な 態度, にもかかわらず his ordeal.

Blown up: 海洋 Sykes 生き残るd the 爆破 which 難破させるd this army 乗り物

Freedom: Tristan Sykes is looking 今後 to having a prosthetic 脚 fitted

He had just 補助装置d the
Afghan 国家の Police with an 操作／手術 and was returning to base at Lashkar Gah in Helmand 州 when his Viking armoured 乗り物 was blown up in May last year.

A fortnight from the end of his fourth 小旅行する of Afghanistan, he was lucky to 生き残る and was blown 30 yards by the 爆破.

海洋 Sykes was 設立する by his company Sergeant Major Matt Tomlinson, who almost certainly saved his life by giving him first 援助（する） at the scene.

University-educated Tristan, whose father Roger was the British 外交官／大使 to Fiji, had a fractured spine, broken pelvis, 穴をあけるd 肺, shrapnel in his 直面する and 30 per cent 燃やすs.

But it was a 粉々にするd foot that became the 継続している 遺産／遺物 of his horrific experience.

He had seven 操作／手術s on it, but doctors at the 王室の Centre for Defence 薬／医学 at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, 設立する it was not only 粉砕するd, but also 感染させるd.

海洋 Sykes, who lives in Norwich with girlfriend Stephanie Goodwin, 26, said he had by then become 失望させるd by all the 外科 and the time he’d been in rehabilitation. ‘It had been a year and a half and I still hadn’t walked even one step in all that time,’ he said. ‘I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to get on with my life.’

に引き続いて the 操作／手術 at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford, he is 予定 to be fitted with a prosthetic 四肢 in a fortnight.
He has no 悔いるs over what happened.

‘I enjoyed Afghanistan, enjoyed 存在 with the guys and enjoyed the work. I was doing my 義務,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t take it 支援する at all. I’d still choose the same path.’

Decorated hero Johnson Beharry 賞賛するd the sacrifices made by comrades in all wars.

The 兵士 was awarded the VC for his 活動／戦闘s in Iraq in 2004 when he saved 得点する／非難する／２０s of 同僚s in two separate 待ち伏せ／迎撃するs, one 出来事/事件 leaving him with serious 長，率いる 傷害s.

Commenting on the significance of Armistice Day, he said: 'These people laid their lives 負かす／撃墜する for us so we could have a better life. All I'm doing is に引き続いて in their path.'

Nine Victoria Cross and 21 George Cross 支えるもの／所有者s, many 年輩の and frail, also …に出席するd the 歓迎会.

The Victoria Cross and George Cross 協会 and its members will 参加する the remembrance service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall tomorrow where a 代表者／国会議員 will lay a 花冠.

The VC was created by Queen Victoria in January 1856 to recognise 行為／法令／行動するs of 優れた bravery during the Crimean War and is the highest honour for valour in the 直面する of the enemy, while the GC is the highest 非軍事の decoration but can still be awarded to the 軍の.

Also …に出席するing was Christina Schmid, whose husband Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, a 爆弾 処分 専門家, was awarded a GC posthumously after 存在 killed trying to 信管を取り除く a 装置.

One of her husband's 同僚s, Staff Sergeant Kim Hughes of the 王室の Logistic 軍団, who was awarded the GC earlier this year, also …に出席するd.

Last August, he （疑いを）晴らすd a minefield to enable the 救助（する） of four 兵士s - 活動／戦闘s 述べるd in his citation as 'the 選び出す／独身 most 優れた 行為／法令／行動する of 爆発性の ordnance 処分 ever 記録，記録的な／記録するd in Afghanistan'.

尊敬の印 to bravery: Queen Elizabeth II 会合，会うs Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, 支えるもの／所有者 of The Victoria Cross at a 歓迎会 in Buckingham Palace

He 取り去る／解体するd seven linked Taliban 爆弾s by 手渡す without any 保護の 着せる／賦与するing so the 本気で 負傷させるd 兵士s 同様に as the 団体／死体s of two dead comrades could be 回復するd.

One of the newest members of the 協会 was Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, 26, from Birmingham, awarded the GC for an amazing 行為／法令／行動する of bravery.

He was part of a company of 40 特殊部隊員 sent to 調査／捜査する a 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd Taliban 爆弾-making factory 近づく the town of Sangin in 2008 when he 始める，決める off a trip-wire that 抑えるのをやめるd a 手りゅう弾.

The 軍人／修理人 had いっそう少なく than seven seconds to （不足などを）補う his mind and jumped の上に the 装置 using his backpack as a 保護物，者 and にもかかわらず 存在 blown into the 空気／公表する escaped with just a nose bleed.

The 26-year-old said: 'It's やめる a humbling experience 存在 here and you get a welcome like you're an old friend from the members.

'I can't understand when people say what I did was madness because I did it and I've come to 条件 with it. But what makes me amazed is reading some of the stories about the other members, I suppose that's what people get from reading 地雷.'

Also の中で the guests was Margaret Purves, 76, the only living woman to 持つ／拘留する the George Cross.

She was awarded the メダル after she saved a Boy Scout and his leader from a rough sea off the coast of Cardiff in 1949, when she was just 14. She went on to b ecome an Army nurse and now lives in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire.