Marriage just what the doctor ordered for wounded Callum

A SOLDIER who lost both his legs in a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan has married his fiancée in hospital.

Lance Corporal Callum Brown also shattered his pelvis when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in January.

Callum, 23, who serves with the Penicuik-based Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS), married 22-year-old Laura Taylor at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital in April, where he has been treated since his return to the UK.

The couple's wedding was originally planned to take place in Loanhead earlier this month, but had to be cancelled after Callum was injured.

They later decided to have a service at the hospital, which was attended by very close family and several soldiers from Callum's regiment.

The newlyweds, who met through a mutual friend in October 2008, have also heard that they have been awarded one of Scottish Veterans' Garden City Association's new Houses for Heroes properties at Linburn Court, off Carlops Road, in Penicuik.

Laura's aunt Karen Coutts, 50, from Penicuik, has been playing her part to support Callum and his fellow soldiers.

She recently organised a 16-mile sponsored walk for family and friends from Penicuik to West Linton and back.

"They never even got out of Penicuik and it started raining - it was literally pouring down," she said.

"The walkers were absolutely brilliant. They were soaked through to their skin."

It is hoped that the sponsorship money and the proceeds of a charity night at Shottstown Miners' Club on the same day will amount to more than 6000, which will be split between Callum and White Hackle, the 2 SCOTS' appeal fund.

Next Saturday, Laura, her brother Douglas and sister Lynsey, along with two friends, will be taking part in a sponsored parachute jump in aid of White Hackle.

Mrs Coutts, a mother-of-one, said: "Laura is absolutely terrified - they all are. I think it's either 12,000 or 14,000 feet.

"If I was younger I would do it, but I'm too old to do it now, and I'd make an awful hole in the ground."

Callum, who had been in Afghanistan since last September, was on his way back to Camp Bastion at the time of the blast.

He was due to go on two weeks' leave before returning to Afghanistan to finish the rest of his six-month tour.

Callum is recovering well and it is hoped that he will be able to attend Headley Court, the rehabilitation unit for wounded soldiers, in the next couple of months.