Doncaster war hero Ben Parkinson 'stunned' by Donald Trump claims
Doncaster war hero Ben Parkinson has been left “stunned” by Donald Trump’s claim that NATO troops avoided the frontline in Afghanistan – with his mother describing it as “the ultimate insult.”
Former paratrooper Ben, now 41, was injured when an Army Land Rover hit a mine in 2006 and is regarded as the most severely injured soldier to survive the conflict in Afghanistan.
His mother Diane Dernie told the BBC that she had spoken to him after the US president provoked outrage by claiming Nato troops "stayed a little back, a little off the front lines".
The US president made his comments in an interview with Fox News and Dernie urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to call out Trump and "make a stand."
Trump's remarks drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, with critics pointing to the 457 British deaths in Afghanistan and highlighting Trump's avoidance of military service in Vietnam.
Mrs Dernie said: "You never cease to be surprised by things that people can come up with and say after the event, people who weren't there, but this is a new low."
The only time Nato's mutual defence arrangement has been invoked was after the 11 September terrorist attack on the US in 2001, when allies aided US forces in response to the atrocities planned by the Islamist extremist network al-Qaeda from Afghanistan.
Lance Bombardier Parkinson had both legs amputated and suffered a twisted spine and brain damage.
His mother said: "I can assure you, the Taliban didn't plant IEDs [improvised explosive devices] miles and miles back from the front line."
"Come and look at us, the life that Ben leads - 19-and-a-half years on, still fighting for his care, still fighting for him to have a decent life, recovering from a recent operation," she said.
"To hear this man say: 'Oh, well, you just fannied about behind the front lines'... it's the ultimate insult."
She told the BBC: "He and his family lost everything.
"He lost his career, he lost his chance at a normal life, but Ben was proud and happy to do it and we were proud of him."
She added that to have that experience "negated" was "absolutely disgraceful".
She said Ben, who left the Army in 2019, had further surgery in December and is currently recovering.