Soldier swapped shift ...and paid with his life
A BRAVE soldier blown up in Afghanistan should have been home on leave with his children.
Instead he exchanged duties with a comrade – and paid with his life.
Lance Corporal Richard Brandon, 24, of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, died on Wednesday.
Outside their home in Kidderminster, Worcs, his fiancee Emma-Jayne Webster, 27, said yesterday: “It is just bad luck that he swapped his shift, but I can’t believe he could have been home with me and the kids if it had been different.” She and Richard had a daughter aged three, and Emma-Jayne has sons aged 12 and nine.
Another soldier to die this week was Private Gavin Elliott, 19, of the Mercian Regiment, who was shot dead on Thursday.
Private Elliott, from Worksop, Derbyshire, carried out fingertip searches for roadside bombs.
Meanwhile the bodies of Sergeant Stuart Millar, 40, and Private Kevin Elliott, 24, both from The Black Watch were flown home yesterday.