Printer Friendly Page

TERRY WALKER, BRITISH GULF WAR SYNDROME

CAMPAIGNER, DIES AT AGE 48 -- Family firmly convinced

that his exposure to radiation and innoculations in the

Gulf War was the ultimate root cause of his death.

 

Terry Walker in Kuwait

 

Terry Walker is well-known to Gulf War vets from many countries for his never-ending battle with the British government over Gulf War Syndrome.

Story here... http://www.thisisyork.co.
uk/display.var.1461112.0.last_
battle_of_war_veteran.php

Story below:

-------------------------

Last battle of war veteran

Exclusive By Mike Laycock

A VICTIM of Gulf War Syndrome has died aged 48 after a failed heart transplant operation, leaving two children.

Former Lance Corporal Terry Walker, of Wheldrake, will be buried tomorrow at a "semi-military" funeral - with standards borne in a guard of honour and The Last Post played by a bugler - in his home village of Wheldrake, near York.

His parents Ted and Hazel said today they firmly believed that while their son died after complications set in following the heart transplant, they were firmly convinced that his exposure to radiation and innoculations in the Gulf War was the ultimate root cause of his death.

They also believed the stress caused by a "heartless" decision to cut his war pension by 60 per cent last Christmas was another factor behind him suffering a heart attack in the spring, which prompted the transplant surgery.

"He was devastated by that decision," said Hazel.

"He felt he had been betrayed yet again by the country he served as a soldier. It was the final straw. It also meant he would struggle to keep his family."
advertisement

Maria Rusling, general manager of the Gulf War Veterans And Families Benevolent Association, said she too believed the syndrome and the war pension cut were primarily to blame for his death.

An inquest into Terry's death at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, has been opened and adjourned, with a preliminary cause of death given as "complications of a cardiac transplant procedure."

Ted said he wanted the full inquest to look at all the factors which had led up over the previous 16 years to his son's heart attack, rather than just the transplant itself, and he was handing over a full medical file to the Newcastle coroner.

Terry, whose 16-year army career included the Falklands War and bomb disposal in the UK and Northern Ireland, was invalided out of the army in 1992, a year after serving in the Gulf War, his health in ruins. He suffered for the next 15 years from a range of problems including swollen joints and legs, blinding headaches, rashes and aches.

His father, a former Army major, said tests at one time had shown traces of depleted uranium in Terry's kidneys, and there was no doubt in his mind that his illnesses were due to his experiences during the conflict, having been fit and healthy beforehand.

Hazel claimed Terry's pension had been cut primarily on the basis that he had not been a regular visitor to his doctor, but she branded that ridiculous, saying he had received all the medication he needed for his chronic condition on repeat prescriptions, and the doctor would not have wanted him returning again and again to the surgery. She said an appeal to the Ministry of Defence's Veterans Agency had been turned down, with the agency claiming in March: "We have carefully considered all the information that you have provided under the relevant criteria, which shows that hardship has not been demonstrated in your case. We are sorry, therefore, to advise you that the decision to reduce your award must stand."

The couple said they would continue with plans to appeal against this decision, saying that it was still highly relevant in practice as well as principle, as it would continue to affect financially Terry's daughter Kirsty, 12, and his 17-year-old son. Stefan, who would now be living with them.

Tomorrow's funeral will take place at 2pm at St Helen's Church, Wheldrake. "There will be a guard of honour featuring standards borne by the veterans association and by the association of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps," said Ted.

"The veterans association is providing a bugler to play The Last Post during his burial in the churchyard afterwards."


Soldier's Gulf War campaign

THE Press has regularly reported over the years on Terry Walker's campaign for official recognition and help for victims of Gulf War Syndrome.

In 1998, the former Lance Corporal told the newspaper he had been granted a 100 per cent war pension after being diagnosed 80 per cent disabled by the War Pensions Agency.

But he branded this a "hollow victory" because the agency considered he was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis attributed to service, with no acknowledgement that his problems were due to Gulf War Syndrome.

"How can they say that when I was perfectly healthy before I went to the Gulf War, but came back an absolute wreck?" he asked.

In 2002, he hailed a landmark tribunal ruling that the syndrome did exist. The Pensions Appeal Tribunal decided to award a full pension to Shaun Rusling, of Hull, a former medic and founder of the National Gulf Veterans' And Families' Association. The Ministry of Defence had consistently denied that such a condition exists, but the tribunal decided that his illness was attributable to the syndrome.

He claimed he was given 30 injections before he went to the Gulf and once there he stayed in a tented city which was sprayed up to five times a day with pesticides containing organophosphates.

But his father believes the greatest damage was caused by British and American uranium-tipped shells, saying Terry walked through battlefields after the conflict when he could have been exposed to radiation. He said Terry had also told him of an occasion when what was apparently an Iraqi Scud Missile exploded overhead, and he had not been able to seal up his protective clothing.


View of the MOD

THE Ministry of Defence (MOD) said today it had long accepted that some veterans of the 1990/1991 Gulf conflict were ill and that some of this ill health was related to their Gulf service.

"A Pensions Appeal Tribunal has stated that Gulf War Syndrome was a "useful umbrella term" to cover accepted conditions causally linked to the 1990/91 Gulf conflict," said a spokesman.

"The MOD has welcomed this development and we hope this will help bring closure to the issue."

He said that awards under the War Pensions Scheme were based on an assessment of current overall disablement, based on all current injuries accepted as due to Service.

"This is done by comparing the condition of the claimant with a normal healthy person of the same age and sex.

"The resulting percentage is then related to a corresponding table in the war pensions legislation which gives the appropriate rate. These rates can be reassessed at any time."

-------------------------

Larry Scott  --