Selfless soldier reaching the heights for heroes charity

A selfless soldier severely injured in Afghanistan is preparing to climb Africa's highest mountain to support other servicemen fighting their own battle back to fitness.

Mark Clyde, of Wolf Lane, Windsor, is to join the Band of Brothers group aiming to summit 19,341ft Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in March.

The 31-year-old is still recovering from injuries suffered when he was hit twice in separate attacks by Taliban insurgents at the end of 2009, while serving in the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards.

The dad of two young children, Archie and Poppy, hopes to raise more than £10,000 from the punishing climb for injured servicemen charity Help for Heroes and via an auction at the Vansittart Arms pub in Windsor.

"I  just want to give something back," he said.

"I have seen first hand the help you get from Help for Heroes. The work they do is amazing."

The former section commander of a reconnaissance platoon survived two blasts in Afghanistan, in Camp Bastion and along with fellow comrades in Babagi, Helmand Province.

He was seriously injured in the second while carrying a stretcher to rescue a colleague and endured agonising treatment to remove shrapnel from his eyes using needles.

Since then he has been in and out of Headley Court Military Hospital in Surrey and undergone 11 operations after his right arm was nearly destroyed and has had numerous skin grafts.

Mark, who praised his wife Carys for her constant support, has been recommended by his doctor for medical discharge from the army and was due to have his case heard yesterday.

He is now looking forward to life away from the battlefields after 14-and-a-half years that also included serving in Iraq.

The Yorkshireman, who still receives treatment for post traumatic stress disorder, added: "You can only be lucky so many times. Some of my friends have died and I have a family."

Visit www.bmycharity.com/markclyde to donate.