Wallasey Royal Marine returns to duty - 24th Feb 2009 5:17pm
Wallasey Royal Marine returns to duty less than a year after having both legs amputated
A ROYAL Marine from Wallasey is returning to duty less than a year after he drove over a land mine and lost both his legs.
Last May, Peter Dunning, of Radnor Drive, was 13 days away from finishing his second tour in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when he and his two comrades Dale Gosthic, of Oxford, and Marc Goddard, of Norridge, where blown up in an armoured troop carrier.
Peter was moments away from death when doctors performed a double amputation on him.
His friend Dale was killed and Marc broke both his legs and was badly burned in the incident.
This was all shown in a documentary series called Doctors and Nurses at War on ITV1 last week.
It showed how close Peter came to death and in it doctors said it was only thanks to his great physical strength that he survived.
The 23-year-old said: “Seeing the documentary filled in a lot of gaps for me.
“I can’t remember anything about it and I had no idea how bad it was at the time.
“While I was lying in hospital I often wondered if they could have saved my legs, but after watching the documentary and seeing what looked like a packet of crisps as an X-ray of my leg, I realised that was impossible.
“When you join the Marines you totally put the danger aspects at the back of your mind and concentrate on the things in hand. Before this happened I never let anything get me down massively and I’ve never let what happened get me down to the bottom of the barrel.”
Peter has made a remarkable recovery and is going to take on a desk job in Yeovil in April with the Royal Marines Armoured support group.
He added: “I have no regrets.
“Even though it left me with no legs – joining the Royal Marine Commandos is the best thing I’ve ever done.I applied because I felt I needed a big challenge and it’s given me the greatest challenge of my life.”
To watch Doctors and Nurses at War visit www.itv.com/catchup.
THE WIRRAL NEWS
A ROYAL Marine from Wallasey is returning to duty less than a year after he drove over a land mine and lost both his legs.
Last May, Peter Dunning, of Radnor Drive, was 13 days away from finishing his second tour in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when he and his two comrades Dale Gosthic, of Oxford, and Marc Goddard, of Norridge, where blown up in an armoured troop carrier.
Peter was moments away from death when doctors performed a double amputation on him.
His friend Dale was killed and Marc broke both his legs and was badly burned in the incident.
This was all shown in a documentary series called Doctors and Nurses at War on ITV1 last week.
It showed how close Peter came to death and in it doctors said it was only thanks to his great physical strength that he survived.
The 23-year-old said: “Seeing the documentary filled in a lot of gaps for me.
“I can’t remember anything about it and I had no idea how bad it was at the time.
“While I was lying in hospital I often wondered if they could have saved my legs, but after watching the documentary and seeing what looked like a packet of crisps as an X-ray of my leg, I realised that was impossible.
“When you join the Marines you totally put the danger aspects at the back of your mind and concentrate on the things in hand. Before this happened I never let anything get me down massively and I’ve never let what happened get me down to the bottom of the barrel.”
Peter has made a remarkable recovery and is going to take on a desk job in Yeovil in April with the Royal Marines Armoured support group.
He added: “I have no regrets.
“Even though it left me with no legs – joining the Royal Marine Commandos is the best thing I’ve ever done.I applied because I felt I needed a big challenge and it’s given me the greatest challenge of my life.”
To watch Doctors and Nurses at War visit www.itv.com/catchup.
THE WIRRAL NEWS