Mercy dash soldier with new-born son

The Grundy family pictured at their home over Christmas

Published on 03/01/2013 14:16

A SELBY soldier, who survived an explosion whilst on duty back in 2010, was given the best New Year present ever – after a 30-hour dash home saw him united with his newborn son.

Cpl James Grundy, serving with the Royal Engineers, was in Afghanistan when he received a phone call informing him that his wife Lisa was about to go into labour.

James then undertook a mammoth journey to get home and it was at the end of the first leg of the trek when he got another phone call, this time to say that his son Oscar, had arrived.

He told the Selby Times: “I wasn’t in touch with Lisa for the journey from Camp Bastion to the United Arab Emirates.

“But then when I touched down there, I managed to get to a phone and find out what was happening.

“That’s when I found out that he’d been born and it was sheer elation.

“I was just overcome with emotion.”

The birth was due on December 29 but Oscar, weighing seven pounds, arrived eight days early and just in time for Christmas Day.

James returned back to Britain where he was re-united with his wife, newborn child and Lisa’s seven-year old son Jermaine at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton.

James was injured two years ago when the armoured vehicle he was travelling in was destroyed by an improvised explosive device, leaving him with broken cheekbones and a broken upper jaw whilst the driver, Sapper Daryn Roy, was killed.

He says that the arrival of Oscar was “the best Christmas present we could ever have asked for.”

The family have since brought in the New Year at their home in Ripon and James says that the festive period has given the family, who were winners in the Selby Times Community Pride awards last November, some quality time together.

He added: “The mayhem of the last few weeks has settled down.

“We all spent Christmas together and it was brilliant.”

James is now awaiting confirmation of what date he will have to return to duty, but he says that the arrival of Oscar was “the perfect way to spend Christmas.”

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Mercy dash soldier with new-born son

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