I am Pauls Battery Commander and I am writing on Pauls behalf to tell you about an accident that he has been involved in.
Let me assure you at this stage thet Paul is alright although at this moment he is recovering in Hospital.

On Monday afternoon (Feb 14th) he was on an exercise on the ranges when the Gun on which he was working blew up.
The cause of the accident is being investigated in detail now, all we know for sure at this stage is that the shell exploded in the barrel.

Paul and three others were burnt and taken to hospital immediately, the hospital describes their burns as superficial.

I visited the hospital last night and Paul was comfortable and remarkiably chirpy.
He is at the British Military Hospital at Hannover where I can assure you he is receiving the very best attention.
He is likely to be in hospital for at least a week while the burns heal. Because he is unlikely to be able to write to you him self for a few days I thought it best that I write to you.
His address is

Surgical Ward
BMH Hannover
B.F.P.O. 33

This is probably a very good oppertuinity for me to let you know that Paul is making very good progress in the Army. He has done well on a number of courses and seems to enjoy life to the full. He puts plenty of effort and enthusiam into his work and is a very popular member of the Battery, definately one of the "characters"

He will have no shortage of friends to visit him in hospital.
As a matter of interest he is a very good soccer player and represents the Regiment.

We are all very sorry about the accident and thank God thast no one was killed.

It seems miraculous that the injuries are as light as they are.
Let me assure you once again that Paul is in good hands and that he is making a speedy and very satisfactory recovery .



Pauls comments :-

We were all burnt and some of us had shrapnel wounds, I was blinded in one eye for a month.
SAS had his headset melted to his ears, he was in a bad way.
We were all taken to BMH Hannover, after 3 weeks Bradbury and Freier were released and went home. I was transferred to BMH Rintein to have the shrapnel removed from my eyes then I went home for a month.
"Thats all I can remember, we were very lucky to be alive"