Servicewoman and her ‘surprise’ baby return to the UK

Published on 24/09/2012 00:20

A BRITISH servicewoman who gave birth while serving in
Afghanistan is back in the UK with her baby.

Lance Bombardier Lynette Pearce – who is understood to have been unaware of her pregnancy – was taken to her base’s infirmary with stomach pains last Tuesday. The baby’s birth is thought to have been five weeks premature. It was born in Camp Bastion’s £10 million field hospital, with the Ministry of Defence confirming “a specialist paediatric retrieval team” was sent
to provide care on the flight home.

The MoD has not confirmed where mother and baby are, but it is believed they are in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The 28-year-old, who serves with the Royal Artillery, is reported to have left her home country of Fiji last year to fulfil her dream of serving in the British Army.

The keen sportswoman is the daughter of a former policeman in the Fijian town of Nadi.

She had reportedly passed every fitness test while pregnant and completed all training, including a gruelling eight-mile march with a 25lb backpack.

Servicemen and women have pre-deployment medical checks – for example hearing tests –
depending on their roles, and complete physical fitness tests, such as a five-mile run.