Want to examine every single serviceman who was involved in a fatal incident in NI, do they? Well, they should examine
Paul Burns.
Newly recruited to the Parachute Regiment, Paul was 18 years old and performing a tour of duty in Northern Ireland when a four-ton truck he was travelling in was destroyed by an IRA bomb.
Both his legs were smashed and burnt to the bone. His right leg was barely spared but his left leg was amputated below the knee. Those who saw him wondered if it might not be kinder to let him die.
Paul had always been in pain – “it’s just a matter of how much”
(FOLLOWING his injuries):
He spent six years as a member of the Red Devils Parachute display team, completed the BT Global Challenge Round the World Yacht Race on “Time & Tide” the first all disabled race around the world.
skippering a 65 foot yacht with an all amputee Blesma crew on the tough Fastnet offshore sailing race
Paul Burns, 52, a true Blesma hero and an injured survivor of Warrenpoint 1979, died suddenly in a hospital in Berkshire on Friday 7th June (2013). He was recovering from a broken leg, suffered whilst participating in the 52 mile 3 Counties Bike Ride the previous weekend.
his autobiography ‘A Fighting Spirit’. . . . a true story modestly told and extremely inspirational.
I've just attended a lecture by a retired BA captain who sailed on that BT Global Challenge. What it doesn't say in the eulogy was that they were doing this the 'wrong' way - down to The Horn and turn right into the 'Roaring Forties'. One day they had Phenomenal Seas with 14 m waves.
Well, at least the Crown Office/PSNI can't get Paul Burns now.