Historic route back to work for injured Herefordshire soldier David Sterling Brown (From Hereford Times)

Historic route back to work for injured Herefordshire soldier David Sterling Brown

8:00am Thursday 29th July 2010

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WHEN Territorial Army soldier David Sterling Brown broke his spine on his first ever tour of Afghanistan it quickly dawned on him that his everyday career had probably been seriously damaged too.

Back in Herefordshire, the Dilwyn villager was better known as a specialist armoury manufacturer who produced costumes for everything from theatrical productions to replicas for use in the national armoury museums.

But out at Camp Bastion, the 39-year-old lance corporal was hospitalised after a helicopter blew the roof off a nearby building and onto him as he emailed family from a tent.

“When I started trying to walk again, the smallest movement was such a huge effort I quickly realised that going back to work might never have been possible,”

the father-of-one said.

“I panicked a bit to be honest, I didn’t deal with it very well. There was a lot of disappointment and a total loss of confidence.”

Fortunately a Ministry of Defence programme to find meaningful employment for injured service personnel quickly discovered a fitting replacement for his day job.

The Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry member was put on a four-month placement auditing a national collection at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

Kathy Richmond, museum manager, said: “The knowledge that he brought to the project has been completely invaluable. We will miss him.”

Now Lance Corporal Brown feels ready to return to fulltime work again adding that he would not change a thing from his military past.

“We had a really good tour and we achieved a lot,” he said. “I can honestly say I have no regrets.”

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