Mark adams

If you've a couple of minutes, I'd like to share a personal and pay a public tribute to an unknown, unsung British army hero, the man below. Growing up in a little Suffolk village in the early 1980's, we had 3 young village men who got into trouble when a local paedophile was run out of his village. Though the Police could not prove it was them, they were told by the Police that they had to split up and leave our village, if they didn't they were left in no doubt that the Police would stitch them up. One joined the French Foreign Legion, one joined the Paras and as two had left, the third remained in our village. Throughout the 1980's they'd sometimes be reunited in our village on their brand new super bikes, when they were on leave from the Paras and the Legion, or more frequently towards the late 80's when the one who'd joined the Legion had deserted due to malaria. They'd hold court in our local pub, which was always heaving and sort any trouble out. They'd visit our house over Christmases, as a village we had a tradition of families having open houses on different days, they'd drink our house dry, then the next day drink the next families house dry and on and on. Myself and my younger sister had part time weekend jobs in that local pub, they had a soft spot for her as she's fierce and gave them as good as she got with their banter, they saw me more as what I was, a 6th former, a cricketer and I guess compared to them, meek and soft, a pretty boy not a man, they were right. In the late 1980's she had her 16th birthday party in a local village hall and those parties always ended up with trouble due to gatecrashers, if it wasn't the heavy metal grobs, it was the psychobillies. All three were home and they offered to do the door for her, she was thrilled. My friends and I did the door until they arrived and they were late, as expected a bike gang turned up and my 6th form friends legged it, leaving me on my own on the door. I was bricking myself, I knew I was going to get a kicking, but for what seemed an eternity but was probably 5 mins, I didn't give way and they didn't get in. Then a yellow and black striped mark 1 ford escort mexico finally arrived, with a now local bouncer, an ex Legionnaire and a Para in it and I thought yes! To my horror they sat in the car for again what seemed like an eternity but was only a minute or so and just watched me struggling to hold the door. Finally they got out of the car and I shouted at them, "wtf have you been doing!" To which they laughed at me and a reply came, "watching you stand your ground and finally proving to us that you're not a pretty boy." They told me to go in, get them their Carlsberg Special Brews and they'd share a pint with me. As I turned my back all hell broke loose and the heavy metal grobs realised that what I'd been telling them about who was turning up to help me was a painful reality, not a fantasy. That Paratrooper, the man shown below was called Guy Homan. Not until recently did I learn that when I saw him in the late 1980's and early 90's he wasn't a Para, he was Guy Homan, 22 SAS (D Squadron) He served in the British Army from 1983-2006, from 88/89-2006 with the SAS, he saw action in Iraq, Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Sierra Leone, the famous Op Barras, that many saw as a suicide mission at the time to rescue Irish Rangers from the West Side Boys. And undoutedly numerous other missions that we will never know about, he also led a mission to Mt Everest. Alas he's no longer with us, he was crushed to death by his own tipper truck, which he used for his tree surgery business in 2016. As Guy like way too many of our service personnel had struggled psychologically having left service, the Police pushed for a verdict of suicide. But the coroner refused to believe that Guy, a devoted family man and father, had intentionally killed himself and recorded an open verdict. It was and is a privilege and honour of my life to have known Guy and as a boy, to have been shown how to and taught by him, to stand my ground. If you've read this, please repost it, Guy epitomises what it is to be English and British and deserves to be known. RIP Guy. Thank you, bless you.