"We Will Remember Them"
Paul Thorner carried five bricks for his comrade Corporal (Cpl) Glyn Woodland, and family members, Barry Thorner, Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Graham Thorner, Margaret and Eric Goddard, and David and Karen Goddard. He raised over £7,500 for Rifles Care for Casualties. Paul said:
“I knew it was not going to be easy. I have been training for ten months. The weather was hot and the terrain rough, with very steep hills, but the views were breath-taking. The banter along the way kept us going. It was quite emotional, seeing the bricks standing together – it makes you realise how many comrades we have lost in service, through suicide and ill health.”
This brick is dedicated to Margaret and Eric Goddard. Local Paulton artist David Youdle painted this brick. He remembers seeing the tragic glider accident at Double Hills, near Paulton in 1944 and so was moved to contribute his work to Paul’s fundraiser. He painted two local scenes on both sides of the brick, one landscape of the Somerset Levels and Glastonbury Tor, and the other of Bishop’s Palace Moat in Wells.
Four bricks were carried on the march to commemorate the eight soldiers who died in an IRA bomb attack on a bus carrying Light Infantry soldiers near Ballygawley, Northern Ireland on 20th August 1988. Painted onto the green bricks are the names of Jayson Burfitt (aged 19), Richard Greener (aged 21), Mark Norsworthy (aged 18), Stephen Wilkinson (aged 18), Jason Winter (aged 19), Blair Bishop (aged 19), Alexander Lewis (aged 18) and Peter Bullock (aged 21). Twenty-eight more soldiers were wounded in the attack, and some developed post-traumatic stress disorder after their experience.
Lance Corporal Dave Jukes of the Staffordshire Regiment served in nearly every major campaign that the British forces had been involved in over the last 25 years. He went to Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Dave suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and acute depression. He took his own life in October 2018 at age 49.
Dave’s wife, Jo Jukes, had been trying to get him help but her husband’s condition was not taken seriously. She now is speaking out. She is calling for more unified support from the government for veterans with complex mental health needs, so that no other family has to go through what hers did. In 2019 she launched a legal case against the Ministry of Defence for their alleged failings to prevent his death. This was the first case of its kind in the UK.
Listen to Jo Jukes speak about her husband and her experience: https://www.itv.com/news/2019-05-31/army-veteran-widow-launches-legal-battle-against-mod-nhs-and-police-for-failing-to-stop-his-ptsd-induced-suicide