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Not going to buy a poppy this year? Maybe Daniel's shocking story will change your mind
IT isn't until you see the destroyed flesh of a wounded soldier that the horrors of war really come home to you.
IT isn't until you see the destroyed flesh of a wounded soldier that the horrors of war really come home to you.Behind every report of soldiers "seriously injured" there are young men whose lives have been changed forever as Jemma Walton reports.
See more from the ET's special week of features about life in the forces in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday, November 11.
THE burned, blackened, stitched and scarred face of Lance Corporal Dan Twiddy is why you should drop a pound in that poppy tin this weekend, and why you should wear that poppy with the deepest pride.
This is the face of a young man who joined the army wanting to serve and protect his country, a young man whose flesh caught fire when he was attacked by his own side while serving in Iraq.
This is the face of a soldier who has had to rely on the help of the Royal British Legion after receiving no help, or even an apology from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Dan's bid to sue the MoD for negligence has been thrown out because the MoD has "combat immunity". But Dan has no such immunity from having his mind and body scarred for life.
Dan was protecting bridges on the outskirts of Basra, on March 25, 2003, when at 1am, he was taking a nap on top of his tank, and the worst thing that can happen to a soldier happened to him.
His Challenger II tank had been securing bridges on the outskirts of Basra when the crew of another British Challenger II became confused, and fired a round at what they thought was an Iraqi vehicle, which missed Dan's tank and landed in front of it.
The force of the round landing on the ground blasted Dan from the top of his tank, and set him alight from head to foot.
He recalls the horror of what happened next: "I heard my commander shouting 'Roll yourself out, roll yourself' out, and so I did," he said.
"The commander had been in the tank with the driver, but was looking out at what had happened.
"And then another round hit our tank and the commander and the driver died instantly. That first round, which burned me so badly, saved my life."
Dan was 22, and 80 per cent of his body was burned. His life had been changed forever – and two of his friends had had their lives ended – by the saddest and sickest of ways to be injured at war: friendly fire.
"I was still conscious, and lying on the floor when I heard an army ambulance, which is just a smaller tank, coming – every soldier knows the sound they make," he said. "The medics pumped me full of morphine and I passed out."
He was taken to a US field hospital and 24 hours later was flown to the UK, where he was admitted to Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford.
"They woke me up on Mother's Day," said Dan. "Which was about three weeks after the accident. I started freaking out, as the morphine had given me some terrible dreams. I thought I had lost my legs.
"I was trying to get up and touch them, and my mum, who's a nurse, started to say 'Here are your legs, and your arms, and toes, and you are Dan Twiddy, and you are in hospital.'
"I said 'I know who I am and I know where I am' – with some swearwords thrown in. They said: 'Dan's back.'"
Dan, of Conduit Road, Stamford, was in hospital for a month-and-a-half, during which time he noticed that all of the mirrors in the room were covered with towels.
But when a nurse took him for a bath he decided to look at himself."My face had been hit by shrapnel, and I had a flap of skin like a ball sticking out from my face," he said. "Looking at myself set me back a lot."
Some of the photos of Dan at that time are simply too shocking to print. The skin on his arms split, warped and peeled off and his head was a mass of thick black stitches.
As well as burns to his arms, legs and back, and shrapnel in his eye he also had a broken jaw, and had to have a metal plate put in his cheek. He lost the hearing in one of his ears for good.
The fire that had hit him and his colleagues had been anything but friendly. It had been life-destroying.
And yet, sickeningly, neither Dan nor the families of the men who died in the tank that night, have been successful in getting the MoD into court over the disastrous events.
This week, Dan found out his joint bid with the dead men's families to sue the MoD for negligence has been refused. "We were trying to sue them with manslaughter and neglect," said Dan. "But I got a letter from my solicitor this morning saying that the MoD has 'combat immunity'. This kind of thing happens in combat, apparently, and they aren't responsible for it.
"The widow of the commander, who had two young sons will now have to make a civil claim if she wants to keep on making claims at all."
None of the people affected by the accident have ever received a word of apology from the MoD.
Dan said: "At the commander's inquest, the coroner said that he assumed we had had an apology from the MoD. When we said we hadn't he asked the men from the MoD if they would apologise. They said they weren't allowed to.
"And so the coroner apologised on their behalf."
Dan is now 27, and has rebuilt his life, and skin grafts and surgery saved his face and arms, although he is still waiting for a further operation to balance the sides of his face.
He works as a self-employed plasterer. But he still misses army life, and would go back tomorrow if he could.
"When I signed up aged 17 I wanted to go all the way," he said. "I went to Bosnia, Cyprus and Kosovo before I went to Iraq, and I wasn't afraid of anything happening. I was a soldier and I wanted to go to war. That is what soldiers are for.
"We knew that we had better equipment than the Iraqis, and I told my mum before I went that the only way I would get hurt was if another Challenger fired at me. I had no idea then that I would be right."
Far from being deterred by the horrors he has seen and lived through, Dan would recommend joining the army to any 17-year-old.
"Army life is the best life you'll ever have," he said. "You'll have the best laugh, a brilliant time. I have no problems with my regiment, or the army. I served with the Queen's Royal Lancers, with the Royal Fusiliers Regiment battle group, and I am proud of that."It is the MoD I am bitter towards.
"I am bitter not because of the lack of an apology, but because they sent us out there with leather boots. My boots melted. Some people were wearing green combats, which were not ventilated, and very hot and heavy to be wearing in Basra.
"We were sleeping in horrible old sleeping bags, and seemed to have the worst of everything. And what really galls is that there is a device called Blue Force Tracker, which can be fitted in tanks and other vehicles, and identifies whether a vehicle is an enemy or not, which would stop people being hurt or killed in friendly fire.
"Why is the MoD sending men out to fight a war and not giving them the equipment they need to fight safely?"
Dan complains that the MoD has no respect, that it treats soldiers like numbers – and if one dies or is injured, they can be shipped home, forgotten about, and replaced.
But through his ordeal, one thing – apart from the people close to him – has been a constant source of support: the Royal British Legion.
"As soon as I was in the UK the Legion made contact with my family, and said if there was anything they needed, to just ask," he said. "They visited me, and at one point I needed my bandages changing every day. My family had lost money through being at my bedside when I first came home, and so couldn't take any more time off work to do it, and so I employed a private company to change them for 60 a week.
"The MoD refused to pay that money, and so the Legion agreed to. It also helped me with my insurance and my compensation claims."
Every year, on the anniversary of the accident Dan lays a wreath at Stamford's war memorial, to remember and pay respect to the friends he lost. And on Poppy Day he will be part of the parade in Stamford, because he, more than perhaps anyone in the town, knows just what Remembrance Sunday means.
"It means a lot to me," he said. "It means a lot to me to see young children wearing Poppies, because it shows that they have respect for what soldiers do.
"But it is always a sad time, and always will be. Because I will be remembering the lads that I knew, and lost."
Dan's face and body are slowly mending, but his memories of war will never fade.
Remember his face, and think about his memories when you walk past a Poppy seller this weekend.
Ministry of Defence statement
A spokesman for the MoD said: "Equipping and supporting our troops properly is a key priority for everyone working in defence. The mobilisation for Iraq in 2003 posed huge logistical challenges, and while overall we performed well there were some well documented shortcomings.
"We have learnt lessons from this and constantly strive to improve the equipment and logistics support that we offer troops on the front line."In 2003 the US fielded their recently developed Blue Force Tracking tool to help identify friendly vehicles. This was new technology that became available at short notice, and we were able to obtain sufficient numbers of sets to help our units operate with US forces."
Although unable to speak in detail about individual cases, the MoD also recognised that the injuries Dan suffered were horrific.
"No one can help but be moved by what happened to Dan Twiddy and the serious injuries he suffered, but it doesn't change the fact that this was a combat situation and this sort of incident is a risk you take when you volunteer in an armed conflict. We do everything we can to make sure these 'friendly fire' incidents do not happen, but sometimes mistakes are made."
How you can show respect
IF you would like to show your respect for the servicemen and women past and present who have protected our country, why not join Peterborough's Remembrance Sunday ceremony?
It will begin at 10.15am with a civic parade from the town hall to the cathedral, where wreaths will be laid at the city's war memorial.
The parade will include the Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, Hugh Duberly, Freemen of the City, Members of Parliament, city councillors, senior council executives and other guests.
The cathedral service will begin at 10.45am with the presentation of military standards at the altar.
The Dean of Peterborough, the Very Rev Charles Taylor, will conduct the service and the civic procession will return to the Town Hall at 11.45am for the unveiling of a poppy wreath above the Bridge Street entrance.
The chairman of the Peterborough branch of the Royal British Legion, Garry Hunt, will then recite the Exhortation prior to a ceremonial march-past at noon. The parade will be dismissed in the Car Haven car park at 12.15pm.
Royal Anglians' pride at match support
SOLDIERS who have returned from duties in one of the most hostile warzones in the world have spoken of their pride after receiving a standing ovation from the city's football fans.
The Royal Anglian Regiment returned from Afghanistan last month, and were guests of honour at Peterborough United's home match against Dagenham and Redbridge on Tuesday this week.
Two members of the regiment placed a poppy wreath on London Road's centre spot with representatives from the Royal British Legion.
Today, Private Christopher Worsley, from Stanground, said the reaction the thousands of fans gave the soldiers was something special.
He said: "We were collecting money for the regiment before the game, and everyone who passed us gave us something.People were chucking tenners and fivers into the bucket, but everyone who gave something, no matter how small, said how much they appreciated what we had done.
"Being a lifelong Posh fan, it made me very proud to march in full uniform onto the pitch at half time.
"I remember going to watch them when I was little, and it was a dream come true, especially when everyone gave us the standing ovation."
Private Worsley (27) said that this Sunday would have extra significance for the soldiers.
He said: "When you have lost friends and colleagues in the war, it brings it home what Remembrance Day actually means.
"It will have a much more personal meaning for all of us this year, remembering people who did not come home with us."
Lance Corporal Kyle Highton (22) from Essex said he was amazed at the greeting that the soldiers received while at London Road.
He said: "We had a fantastic reception at the match, with the standing ovation and minutes silence, along with plenty of people coming up to us offering support."
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