Family ‘in debt’ to captain’s brave comrades

The father and twin brother of an Army captain mortally wounded in Afghanistan paid emotional tributes to soldiers who braved fierce enemy fire to take him from the battlefield.

Captain Martin Driver, 31, from Barnsley, was airlifted back to Britain after suffering severe injuries in a bomb blast, but died of his wounds in hospital three weeks later.

His twin, David Driver, who was invited to address the inquest as it neared its conclusion yesterday, paid tribute to his brother, whom he described as “exceptional”, and told the soldiers who had served alongside him: “He was devoted to you, his colleagues. On behalf of my family – Martin’s family – I would like to thank every one of you who was there in the field, who supported him medically and soldiering, to get him home.

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“To have Martin home with us in his last few days meant everything to us. We will forever be in your debt for that.”

His father John expressed his gratitude and also thanked the Army’s support network for its “massive” efforts to help his family.

Comrades of Capt Driver had told the inquest they came under attack from rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire as they attempted to treat him and apply tourniquets after the officer, a member of the 1st Battalion of The Royal Anglian Regiment, stepped on an improvised explosive device near Musa Qala on February 21, last year.

Lieutenant Colonel Harry Fullerton, the Commanding Officer of the Battle Group deployed to the Musa Qala area at the time, said aggressive operations in the region had dealt severe blows to the Taliban. “He didn’t die in vain,” he told the court. “We left Musa Qala a better place.”

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Recording a narrative verdict that Captain Driver was killed by enemy action whilst on active service, Coroner Aidan Cotter praised the bravery of a medic who crossed open ground not checked for IEDs to go to his aid.