The deputy manager of a shopping centre is making an emotional appeal for help to raise money for the families of soldiers killed and injured in Afghanistan – a year after his own son perished there.
It is just over 12 months since Ian Kirkpatrick and his wife, Angela, of Llanelli, received the news the parents of every serving soldier dread ~ Jamie Kirkpatrick had been killed in a fire-fight in Helmand province.
Next week, on Wednesday, July 20, his name and that of the 111 other soldiers killed in 2010 will be added to the roll of honour at the National Arboretum in Staffordshire and Ian, and Angela will be there along with their daughter, Claire, younger son, Ross, and Jamie’s widow Heidi, to join in the Service of Dedication.
The service will be particularly poignant for the family, as July 20 was the date of Jamie’s funeral last year.
Ian, a former soldier himself, now the deputy manager of Swansea’s Quadrant Shopping Centre, and his family and friends have raised thousands of pounds for the Carver Barracks Injured Soldiers Charity Fund.
Carver Barracks in Wimbish Essex houses both 33 Engineer Regiment (EOD) and 101 Regiment (EOD). Soldiers were transferred from one regiment to the other at various stages of the long training process and subsequent deployment, so Jamie was a member of both regiments at one time or the other.
The Charity is a non-profit making fund which provides financial assistance to injured members of both 33 and 101 Engineer Regiments (EOD) and their families.
Set up in 2009 as a direct result of casualties occurring in Afghanistan, it is designed to work directly alongside existing Armed Forces Charities and welfare funding sources to offer immediate support on a local level, prior to the normal Army welfare support systems commencing.
The charity has recently added wristbands to their merchandise which can be bought and worn to support the victims of the ten-year Afghanistan campaign and these are hoped to be available within the busy Quadrant Centre as well as at other local outlets.
Ian said: “My colleagues here at the Quadrant Shopping Centre and all the stores and their staff as well as lots of the market traders have been fantastic for us, they’ve been very understanding and very supportive.”
Jamie, a corporal in 101 Engineer Regiment (EOD) and a trained combat engineer and plant operator, was a 32-year-old career soldier and he and his wife, Heidi, had an thirteen month old baby girl Holly, when he left for a tour of duty in Afghanistan in April 2010.
Ian said: “Jamie was attached to the Joint Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group, part of the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Task Force, and his team were deployed to many different parts of Afghanistan to clear IEDs – improvised explosive devices – and make movement safer not only for our own forces but also for the local Afghan people.
“It was on one of these deployments to the Nahr-e Saraj area on the evening of Sunday, June 27, last year that Jamie was sadly killed by insurgent small arms fire when his team came under attack.”
He added: “It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions since Jamie was killed, with the repatriation through RAF Lynham and Wootten Bassett, his funeral which was attended by hundreds of friends and colleagues, a military funeral with plenty of ceremony to appreciate, despite the torrential rain which lasted all day.
“His Regiment’s homecoming and medal ceremony was particularly moving with the presentation of The Elizabeth Cross to Heidi and Angela and the Service of Dedication at Rochester Cathedral for The Corps of Royal Engineers and Holly’s Christmas Party at No 10 Downing Street.
Ian said: “It is important for us as a family to talk about Jamie, and I know that his friends feel the same way.
“If we can raise the awareness of any worthwhile charity along the way then that is a good thing.
“His friends have already organised and taken part in many fundraising and memorial events, such as, The Cardiff 10k, The Llanelli Marathon, The Scarlets v Edinburgh memorial game, and I am sure more will be forthcoming.
“People often raise the political question of deployment to Afghanistan, and our response is that whatever your views are on this country’s role in the region and clearly these may be many and varied.
“There can be little doubt that the work Jamie and soldiers like him carried out has made a huge difference to the local population, with areas being made safe enough for many schools and businesses to re-open.
“This work of course continues for the teams deployed out there now, and they need continued support to ensure they know their work is valued and that they have the backing of the general public.”
