Ormskirk soldier recovers from Taliban AK47 attack in Helmand

Jul 7 2011 by Tom Duffy, Ormskirk Advertiser

AN ORMSKIRK soldier wounded in Helmand has vowed to return to Afghanistan if his country calls on him again.

Colin Luther-Davies was shot twice during a gun fight with the Taliban as he attempted to provide cover fire for a wounded colleague.

The 25 year old was shot twice in the right leg by an AK-47 armed insurgent, before being evacuated from the battlefield by a crack US team in an Black Hawk helicopter.

Colin's parent's were notified immediately by the Ministry of Defence, and their son managed to phone home as he recovered from surgery at camp Bastion in Helmand.

The Irish Guards Lance Sergeant, who grew up off Halsall Lane, had spent the preceding months fighting the enemy in the lanes, wadies and fields around the small village of Rahim in Helmand.

Colin's unit had help set up a local school and secured funding to re-build a bridge that had been blown up by the Taliban.

The November 8 gun fight terminated Colin's tour of duty, and, after surgery at camp Bastion, he was flown back to the UK and treated at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth hospital.

The first bullet passed straight through Colin's leg, but the second was recovered by medics and passed on to the army's forensic experts.

The specialists hope to glean intelligence from the bullet, although Colin understands the insurgent who shot him was killed on the same day.

Colin is now undergoing physiotherapy and has returned to his regiment on a part-time basis.

The Kingswood High old boy joined the British Army as a 16 year old, and completed a tour of Iraq in 2006.

Colin recently received his campaign medal at a ceremony which was attended by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.