Tragic ‘suicides’ of two heroes who fought side by side in Iraq
Harry’s plea: Save my heroes from suicide
GOING out on patrol night after night, soldiers Kevin Williams and John Paul Finnigan became brothers in arms, always looking out for each other amid the horrors of combat in Iraq.
But after leaving the British Army, t hey both struggled to recover from the traumas of war.
In March this year, Kevin took his own life at the age of 29.
John Paul, already tormented by the suicides of seven other soldiers he knew, was devastated.
Three weeks ago, the 34-year-old father-of-three was found hanging in the garden of his home.
Their deaths highlight the plight of veterans struggling to adjust to civilian life. Last week, The Mail on Sunday revealed that former soldiers are now dying through suicide at a faster rate than those who fell in combat during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The haunting picture, above right, of Kevin, from Basildon, Essex, and John Paul, from Huyton, Merseyside, was taken in Basra in 2007 on a patrol with Iraqi forces.
John Paul’s sister Nicky Finnigan, 38, said: ‘He and Kevin were really good friends. They were in the same platoon and living together in Basra palace, going out in the combat fields day and night. They were very, very close.
‘ He told me there were eight former soldiers who had taken their lives within eight months. The last one was Kevin. It started to eat away at him.’
Kevin, who had been the youngest rifleman to serve in Iraq, had been found hanging in a communal stairwell outside his flat.
The veterans had both battled post traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD) after being discharged from the Army and trying to adapt to civilian life.
Ms Finnigan is now demanding that more is done to help veterans with PTSD – echoing the concerns raised by Prince Harry, as reported by this newspaper last week.
At least 12 veterans have killed themselves so far this year – one every 13 days.
Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed in action at a rate of one every 14 days between 2001 and 2014.
Kevin and John Paul served in Iraq with the 1st Battalion Royal Green Jackets between November 2006 and May 2007.
Ms Finnigan said: ‘ John Paul didn’t feel he had any problems when he was in Iraq because he was just running on adrenaline like a robot or a piece of equipment doing what he was told. But there were times when he had to kill.
‘He was trained in first aid and had to help a soldier who was hit in a rocket attack by literally holding his face together.’
Kevin joined the Army aged 16 and flew out to Iraq the day he turned 18, just months after being introduced to the Queen.
He was homeless for a time after leaving the Army at the age of 22 and was later diagnosed with PTSD. In a documentary, Kevin had said: ‘Returning to civilian life was a big shock. The skills I learnt especially being in the infantry regiment were all combat based, so as civilian life doesn’t have any combat, I was pretty much useless.
‘Not too long after coming back from Iraq I just felt sad all the time, I lost a friend out there and I didn’t really grieve till I got back.’
Miss Finnigan said John Paul, who joined the Army in 2005, was also left partly deaf by being close to explosions. He was posted to the family office of his regiment which had become 2 Rifles, and had to deal with injured servicemen and their families, and attend 25 funerals of comrades. He was medically discharged in 2009.
Miss Finnigan – a paramedic who lives in Sweden with her partner and three children – said her brother’s PTSD ‘ just got worse and worse’ and contributed to the breakdown of his marriage in 2012.
He tried to deal with his PTSD by seeing two psychiatrists, having counselling, undergoing behaviour therapy and taking medication. He had a job in a factory making car seats and lived with fiancée Danielle Miller.
‘But every time another soldier took his own life, it took its toll on him,’ said Ms Finnigan.
She added: ‘If anything positive comes from this, I hope those suffering from PTSD get to cut the chains of this illness with the biggest bolt cutters they have and live a full and happy life.’