GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT

Trump is slammed for insulting brave British soldiers in Afghanistan

- BY MARK MCGIVERN Chief Reporter

Soldiers stay alert during the conflict in Afghanistan in 2002. Right: Gary Scorgie-Hart

A SOLDIER who witnessed the death of a Scots war hero in Afghanistan has slammed Donald Trump for insulting the families of every soldier who served there.

Gary Scorgie-Hart was aboard a Chinook helicopter in Helmand, seeking to lift Corporal Mark Wright and his company to safety during the Afghanistan conflict in September 2006.

He saw the moment a badly injured Mark, from Dalkeith, Midlothian, was killed by an exploding land mine.

The harrowing incident later became the subject of the movie Kajaki and led to a posthumous George Cross for Mark, of the 3 Para Battalion.

Special forces operative Gary said: "If US President Donald Trump is stating that British forces were not on the front line in Afghanistan, he is insulting every soldier who served there.

"He is insulting the families of people like Mark, who gave up their lives for their country. And he seems unaware 457 of our soldiers died in Afghanistan." Gary said Trump has been nowhere near a battlefield, adding: "Soldiers know there's nothing that tests a person more than actually being in a contact and then knowing that you've got to go towards that repetitively on a daily basis.

"Some of these lads were 18 at the time.

They represented our nation with bravery and distinction and some lost their lives.