Rick wants to walk alone to lay wreath

Sergeant Rick Clement lost his legs in a bomb blast in war-torn Helmand province in 2010.

He has already begun using artificial legs, which cost around £50,000 each, using bars to keep himself steady.

But he hopes to have made enough progress by November to walk unaided to the war memorial to make his own tribute to lost comrades on Remembrance Sunday.

He said: “At the minute, we are waiting for some parts for the legs so I’m not doing a great deal on my legs.

“Until we get the components, new knees and hip parts, it will not progress too well. I still don’t know if unaided walking will be possible by then, but I’d like to think some form of walking will be possible. Until I have a better idea of what I will be able to do, I don’t know what the plans will be, but I don’t want to make a big deal of it — it’s more of a personal target.”

This week also saw Rick’s charity, A Soldier’s Journey, reach a significant milestone by raising a total of £200,000.

Rick, from South Shore, said: “I would like to reach £1m for starters.”

Rick faces gruelling sessions at the Specialist Mobility Rehabilitation Centre in Preston on the road to recovery.

While leading a foot patrol in May 2010 with the 1st Battalion Duke of Lancaster’s regiment, Rick stepped on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), a crude Taliban-made bomb, and was wounded.

As well as losing both his legs, Rick almost lost his right arm, and suffered appalling internal injuries.

Doctors told him he was lucky to be alive.