I want to be a para like my dead hero brother
A BEREAVED teenager wants to pay the ultimate tribute to his late brother by following in his footsteps and joining the Parachute Regiment.
Fin Doherty was just six when his older brother Jeff was killed while on patrol in Afghanistan in 2008.
Jeff, from Southam, Warwickshire, known to his family as JJ, was serving with 2 Para when his patrol was ambushed by Taliban insurgents in the Upper Gereshk Valley.
He was shot and killed, along with another soldier, just two days before his 20th birthday.
Fin’s family were devastated by JJ’s death but child bereavement charity Winston’s Wish helped them rebuild their lives.
It specialises in providing therapy to the children left behind and now Fin, 17, is keen to become a soldier like JJ.
“I couldn’t think of a better job,” he said. “To wear that maroon cap, there’s no greater pride.
“I’d love more than anything in the world to wear my brother’s beret.” Fin spoke as part of a BBC documentary showing the trials and tribulations of children whose lives are torn in half by the loss of loved ones.
He was badly affected by his big brother’s death and left with a pent-up rage he couldn’t control.
“I was ready to fight anybody, at any time,” he said. “You could say hello and I’d shout at you. Nobody would speak to me because they were worried about how I’d react.”
In the documentary, JJ’s mother Joyce says it was always his dream to join the Parachute Regiment.
“It was the Parachute Regiment or nothing,” she said. “He knew they were the best of the best and that’s who he wanted to be.”
The Inside Out (West) will air on BBC One West at 7.30pm on Monday. It will be available on BBC iPlayer.