8:21am Thursday 20th March 2008
By Dick Bellringer
A HERO officer based in Tidworth will be paddling for heroes tomorrow despite having been seriously wounded in Iraq.
Maj David Bradley will be taking part in the annual Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race to raise money for Help for Heroes.
The charity provides practical direct support to servicemen and women wounded in the line of duty in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its first aim is to raise £6 million to build a swimming pool and new gym complex at Headley Court, the tri-service rehabilitation centre in Surre.
It was the idea of Maj Bradley, aged 39, of the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment. In 2004, while rescuing British soldiers cut off in Basra, he was hit by two rocket-propelled grenades and given only a five per cent chance of survival, due to a serious chest injury.
Thanks to the amazing skills of the medical team at the field hospital and in the UK he pulled through but lost the sight in his right eye, part of his right shoulder and part of his right hand. He will be in a two-man canoe with friend Steve Vinall. Sponsors should go to http:// www.justgiving.com/davebradley
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