"Help injured troops"

19 April 2010, 06:00

The family of a soldier from Reading, who was killed in Afghanistan, says more needs to be done to support injured troops.

Corporal Richard Green was killed in action on March 2nd. Now Karla Fox, the teacher of his sister, is joining his dad's fiance, Claire Walden, in doing a sky dive to raise money for injured soldiers.

Claire told Heart there are various reason's behind them choosing the Care for Casualties' Appeal, "Out of Richard's platoon of twenty-one, at least half of them have been killed or seriously injured. And when I say seriously injured, I mean amputees. I believe that they're out there, they don't really think about the politics behind it. They've got a job to do and they're going to do it."

Karla was inspired to set up the sky dive after seeing injured soldiers at Corporal Green's funeral, "It brought to my attention some of the trauma - emotional and physical - that his friends are going through that is not in the public eye. It just touched something within me that made me want to do something to raise awareness."

Listen to the full interview

The pair, who both hate heights and are scared of flying, chose to do the sky dive on 24th April, to raise money for the Care for Casualties Appeal, which was launched by The Rifles Regimental Trust last month. The money raised for the appeal will go to help injured soldiers and their families, from The Rifles Regiment. This was Corporal Richard Green's regiment.