12,000
The number of amputees who returned to Britain from WWII
obituaries
Those we have lost
Paul Burns
Paul Burns died on 7 June 2013, aged 52.
Born on 25 March 1961 in Nottingham, Paul
joined the Army Cadet Force at the age of
11, and five years later enlisted in the Junior
Parachute Company. He went on to adult
service in September 1978, being posted to
2 Para in Berlin, and then Northern Ireland.
Paul was only 18 when, on 27 August
1979, a lorry containing a 500lb bomb
exploded at Warrenpoint, Co Down. The
four-ton truck in which he was travelling
took the brunt of the blast. Six of the eight
men on board died. A second explosion
killed a further 12 soldiers. Paul’s left leg
was amputated below the knee and his right
leg was also severely injured. A year passed
before he was well enough to leave hospital.
Rejoining his battalion after rehabilitation,
he continued to serve with the Army until
1991, working as a rigger for the Joint
Services Parachute Centre. He completed
more than 1,000 parachute jumps, even
joining the Red Devils display team.
His thirst for the active life led him to
compete in the BT Global Challenge in 1996
as a member of the first all-disabled crew
to circumnavigate the world, and began a
career as a stunt double, appearing in films
such as Gladiator.
His autobiography, A Fighting Spirit, was
published in 2010, after Paul won a national
competition, run by the BBC, to find
the most inspirational true life story.
Though his right leg was amputated in
January 2012, Paul still managed to join
the Diamond Jubilee Pageant that June,
paddling a kayak in front of HM The
Queen’s barge as part of a team assembled
by BLESMA. As if that weren’t enough, two
months later he performed as an aerial
trapeze artist for the opening ceremony
of the Paralympic Games in London.
In March 2013 he received the Bowman
Award from the Soldiering On Through Life
Trust, which recognises the achievements
of injured Service personnel nominated
by all the country’s military charities.
“Paul epitomised the spirit of BLESMA.
He made a full life after amputation,” said
BLESMA Chief Executive Jerome Church.
“Always in pain, never grumbling, always
positive, never failing those who needed
help and confidence. He really lived our
motto of Service and Fortitude.”
George Gates
Warren Wolstencroft
George Gates died in March 2013, aged 93.
Warren died on 13 July 2013, aged 39.
George was born in November
1919 and lived most of his life
in and around Southampton.
He joined the Army in 1934 and
joined the Queen’s Royal Lancers
on reaching adult service (aged
17). George served in the Dunkirk
campaign but missed the boat
there, finally being evacuated
from faraway Brest. His regiment
refitted and retrained, and he soon
found himself in North Africa, at
Tobruk and El Alamein, and was
‘Mentioned in Dispatches’ for
attempting to save the life of a comrade. During fierce fighting in Italy in 1944 he lost
his left leg (BK) when his tank drove over a landmine.
Discharged in 1946 George started a new life, wearing what today’s amputees would call
‘a contraption’ which, though never comfortable, did not stop his active life on and off his
motorbike. He joined the trade union movement becoming, in due course, a full time
official with The TGWU. He was by then a BLESMA Member.
George went on to become Chairman of the Southampton and Winchester Branch for
more than 11 years. Active in debate, particularly at AGMs, he was a Member of influence
and was highly respected. He did a tandem parachute jump for BLESMA to celebrate his
90th birthday – and remarked that from high above Salisbury Plain he could see the track
far below where he had ridden his cavalry charger 73 years earlier. He will not be forgotten.
Warren served with the Queen’s Lancashire
Regiment from 1993 until 2001. His right
arm was amputated below the elbow in
2000 after he was diagnosed with a rare
form of cancer in his right hand.
In 2004 he completed the Great North
Run, the following year he took part in
Beyond Boundaries, an expedition through
the Nicaraguan jungle organised and
filmed by the BBC and, in 2006, climbed
Mount Kilimanjaro. Warren also undertook
various fundraising activities on behalf
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