Fergulator T42 & 24T

🇬🇧 20 years ago today. A day I'll never forget. 27th October 2006. Iraq. I was in the same wagon as Lieutenant Tom Tanswell when we were involved in an accident near Basra. I still remember waking up in the back of a Danish ambulance. The panic of not being able to feel my legs, not really knowing where I was or what had happened. The first thing I was told was that Tom had been killed and that I'd been involved in an accident. I was asked if I could remember what had happened. At the time, I couldn't. Strangely, later on I could vividly remember those final few seconds before the accident. The shouts inside the wagon, the sudden movement, my head being hurled across to the other side of the wagon, and then nothing. Completely knocked out. The next thing I knew, I was in that ambulance. My helmet and body armour had been smashed, and I'd somehow ended up around 100 metres from the wagon. Then came the hospital, the uncertainty and trying to piece everything together. Word travels quickly in the Army, especially when something serious happens. Colleagues hear there's been an incident, people start worrying, and often nobody knows exactly who's been involved or who has been killed until later. I remember having to make that phone call home to my mom. Trying to explain what had happened, that I'd been injured, but that I was going to be alright. It's not a phone call any parent wants to receive. Looking back, I was incredibly lucky. I survived with a few scars and memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Sadly, Tom never got that chance. He was just 27 years old, with his whole life ahead of him. It's strange reflecting on something like this 20 years later. Life carries on. We get older, have families, watch our children grow up and experience all the things life has to offer. But for Tom, time stopped that day. And that's something I often think about when remembering those who never made it home. Behind every name is a life that should have continued. A family who never got to see them grow older. Friends who still remember them. Birthdays, Christmases, milestones and memories that were never to be. I was fortunate enough to come home and carry on with my life. Tom's family never got that same opportunity with him. Twenty years have passed, but I haven't forgotten that day, and I certainly haven't forgotten Tom. Today, my thoughts are with him, his family and everyone who knew and served alongside him. Lieutenant Tom Tanswell 12 Regiment Royal Artillery 27th October 2006 – Aged 27 Rest easy, Tom. See you at the Reorg, mate. 🌹 We will remember you. – at Northop Hall, Wales