Barry Whale
Headline:
One-legged hero is on the front line
Synopsis:
THIS hero squaddie is the first one-legged British soldier to fight on the front line in more than 100 years.
Cpl Barry Whale told surgeons to cut off his limb after shattering his foot in a training accident.
He fought for four years to regain full military fitness — and has now completed a tour in Afghanistan.
The infantryman, 28, was one of just 24 who fought off 400 Taliban fanatics in an epic three-week action dubbed the Siege of Roshan Tower.
Cpl Whale, who joined the 2nd Battalion, the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment aged 16, fell 30ft from a rock face in Bosnia eight years ago.
He had nine operations on his foot, but doctors said it would always hurt to walk. Finally, after four frustrating years, he asked for an amputation.
- Publish date:
- 7 November 2008
- Author:
- Tom Newton-Dunn
- Source:
- The Sun
- Media:
