| Sergeant Eddie Nichol (38), of The Black Watch, was serving in Helmand Provence last August when his platoon was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade — an explosion that left him seriously injured and two of his comrades dead.
Sgt Stuart “Gus” Millar and Pt Kevin Elliott took the full force of the blast and were killed instantly, while Eddie ended up in a coma and then intensive care for weeks.
He said, “I remember I was lying down on the ground and my comrades were standing up.
“All of a sudden, there was a huge explosion and I knew right away I had been hit. If I had been standing up, it’s possible I could have been killed outright too.
“It all happened very quickly, I can remember being in total agony and I was put on a stretcher.”
The explosion left Eddie with over 20 pieces of shrapnel in his head and one hit him in the neck close to his jugular.
“A bit hit me in the throat, I was covered in blood and I’ve got a four-inch scar on my neck,” he said.
“I was taken back to the main camp. When I woke up from my coma four days later, I was in a Birmingham hospital.”
The father-of-three, who lives in Catterick in North England, said his children Stuart (4), Hannah (9) and Emma (17) were kept away from him while he was in intensive care.
But there was pay back at the weekend for his brave family as they were amongst three families treated to a luxury trip to London toy store Hamleys organised by a national newspaper to coincide with Armed Forces Day on June 26.
Eddie, Stuart and Hannah travelled down to the capital by first class train. His other daughter Emma and wife Sharon (33) couldn’t make it on the trip because they were at Hampden to see Pink.
The youngsters were each given £100 to spend within the store and Eddie said they filled their shopping carts.
He added, “It was a wonderful experience. Part of me did feel guilty about being there because the other children didn’t have their fathers with them and I was alive and well. But it was great to see smiles on their faces.”
Since the incident, Eddie has been rehabilitating and has been receiving intensive treatment for nerve damage.
Eddie, who grew up in the Downfield area of Dundee, recently returned to work at the Army Careers Centre in Kirkcaldy.
The family is planning to relocate to Leuchars at the end of the week. |
