Torch of courage as war hero Ben Parkinson holds aloft Olympic flame in Doncaster

Every step Lance Bombardier Parkinson took with the flame in his home town was cheered by the crowds which lined the 300m route.

The soldier, who is considered the most seriously-wounded soldier to survive the war in Afghanistan, was mobbed as he turned up for his 300m leg with the flame near Doncaster town centre.

People clamoured to have their photos taken with the 27-year-old and shake his hand.

Police had to hold back the crowds as he got out of his wheelchair to take over the torch close to the town’s war memorial.

Using his prosthetic legs, he carefully walked his section of the relay supported by his physio - Robert “Shep” Shepherd - and was urged on by people ten deep on either side of the road.

In some of the most emotional scenes of the torch relay so far, the para walked even further than the distance he had been practising as hundreds of people shouted his name.

L/Bdr Parkinson finished the stretch in about 26 minutes and, after he handed the torch over to the next runner, he was inundated by well-wishers again.

“I am so proud,” he said.

“I didn’t realise how much support I had. I was amazed.”

L/Bdr Parkinson said the best part of the day was having 50 of his comrades from 7 Para Royal Horse Artillery line the route and cheer for him.

Asked about how he felt walking, he said: “I felt nothing. All these people helped me along.”

His mother, Diane Dernie, said: “He knew he could do it. So many people told him he couldn’t do it, but he was not having that.

“We knew he’d do it.”

Mrs Dernie said: “Brilliant, brilliant day, we’re so proud.

“This town has been such a wonderful place for Ben. I’m just so proud of everybody. Whatever he does, Doncaster’s behind him.”

The paratrooper lost both legs and suffered brain and back injuries in a bomb attack in 2006.

The soldiers from L/Bdr Parkinson’s unit arrived from their base in Colchester, Essex, to cheers from the crowds.

Major Dave Walker said: “I think anyone here would have crawled over broken glass, quite frankly, to come and show Ben our support.

“Everyone in the regiment is tremendously proud of the progress that he’s made against incredible adversity.”

Sergeant Adam Colvin served with L/Bdr Parkinson for many years, including in Afghanistan.

He said: “We’re just here to show our support to Ben - cheer him on and show how fantastically well he’s done and is doing.

“We’re very, very proud of him so we’re here to give our big support to him and just let him know we’ll always be there for him.”

Ben’s physio Mr Shepherd said: “It’s absolutely amazing what he’s achieved.

“We never doubted him, though.

“Nothing is too much for Ben. He is so determined. He is a para, after all.

“It’s been a fabulous day and his mates from his regiment being there really made it for him.”

Mr Shepherd said L/Bdr Parkinson was walking with crutches at the moment but was determined to dispense with them today.

He said: “He had one hand on the torch and I was his crutch at the other side. He was just brilliant.”

The physio said walking with no legs above the knee used the same energy as someone with legs carrying three times their own body weight.

He said in L/Bdr Shepherd’s case this was like carrying nearly 60 stones (381kg).

The relay arrived in Doncaster today after beginning the day in Sheffield and travelling through Rotherham.

It then left South Yorkshire and headed towards Scunthorpe and then Cleethorpes.

Today’s events followed those in Sheffield last night, when Lord Coe carried the Olympic Torch through his home city and declared: “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

The double Olympic gold medallist said his welcome was “absolutely fantastic” as he ran a standard 300-metre torchbearer leg with the flame in the centre of Sheffield.

Crowds behind barricades on the city’s Arundel Gate clamoured to get photos with the chairman of the London 2012 organising committee after he was dropped off by the relay bus and waited for his turn with the torch.

And as he shook hands with the sea of wellwishers, one woman said to him: “Thanks for doing all this for us”.

Lord Coe said: “I’m just very, very flattered, very honoured. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be anywhere else in the world than here with this torch today in Sheffield.

“Just having sat on the coach with 20 extraordinary people all telling their own personal stories of why they got nominated and some of the things they’ve done and been through - it’s just extraordinary.”

Earlier, Lord Coe accompanied the flame when it visited patients at Sheffield Children’s Hospital in a lantern.

He was joined by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on the wards.

Lord Coe, who visited his former school before the hospital visit, said he was delighted to be with the flame in his home town.

“To me personally this is a massive day because it’s the city I was brought up in,” he said.

“Everything that really mattered in my athletics career took place in this city.

“My coaches, my local athletics club, my inspiration to even join the athletics club was from two competitors in this city - John and Sheila Sherwood, who won medals in the 1968 Olympic Games.

“This is a city which is very close to my heart.”

The London 2012 chairman made a surprise visit to Tapton Secondary School in Ranmoor, where he joined in with celebrations for sports day.

He took along his old PE teacher, John O’Keeffe, 73, who helped him get where he is today.

Headteacher David Bowes described the visit as a “great honour”.

The torch arrived in Sheffield tonight where thousands had gathered for a celebration event in the city centre.

On its way into the city thousands more greeted the flame at a community event in Hillsborough Park.

The torch started Day 38 of its journey round the UK in Leeds, where it was carried by Steven Tomlinson, the 14-year-old son of late inspirational fundraiser Jane Tomlinson.

The teenager was cheered and mobbed by people wanting to take his photo as he arrived in the terraced streets of Beeston, in Leeds, to complete his 300m leg.

His mother, who died from cancer in 2007 at the age of 43, carried the torch ahead of the 2004 Games in Athens.

She inspired thousands of people as she defied experts and spent seven years raising more than £1.8 million in a series of endurance challenges.

Since her death, her family, including Steven, have continued staging dramatic challenges and have raised a huge amount of further cash.

Steven was welcomed by school friends as he finished the uphill stretch.

He said: “It was really good, it was really fun. It was an amazing experience.”

Leeds City Council estimated 200,000 people came out to see the torch in its three days in the city.

The council’s executive member for leisure and skills Adam Ogilvie said: “The Olympic Torch coming through Leeds has been absolutely phenomenal, an incredible success and a historic three days for the city.

“The sheer size of the crowds to welcome it across the city has been overwhelming, with people of all ages and backgrounds coming together and making the most of this once-in-a-lifetime chance to see it, which has been wonderful to see.

“None of us can remember anything like it in Leeds.”

Savanna Ruffini-Sutich, 10, from Bawtry, said seeing the flame, which was brought on to the ward by poet Debjani Chatterjee, had brightened her stay in hospital.

She was admitted on Friday because she was feeling unwell as a result of a metabolic condition and had to be put on a drip.

Describing seeing the flame in the lantern, she said: “It was amazing, it was really cool.”

Ms Chatterjee said: “The Olympic Torch, and in this case the Olympic lantern, represents a lot of the things that I value and which I think we should all value.

“The Olympics are about respect, excellence, friendship, and I think that the Olympic Flame represents all those things and it’s good to share that.”