A BRITISH soldier killed in an explosion in Afghanistan “lived his dream”, his mother said yesterday.
Sapper Guy Mellors, 20, from Coventry, a bomb disposal expert from 36 Engineer Regiment, died on Monday.
His mother, Linda Holland, said the family was “very proud of Sapper Mellors”, adding: “He will always be our hero, he lived his dream.”
Sapper Mellors was the second dead British soldier to be named yesterday by the MoD.
Earlier, a soldier killed in a suspected friendly fire incident on Sunday was identified as Kingsman Sean Dawson, from 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment.
An MoD spokesman said Sapper Mellors was trained as a searcher in a Royal Engineers advanced search team responsible for the detection of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in areas deemed high risk.
Sapper Mellors leaves behind his mother, stepfather William and his two younger sisters Lana, 13, and Kia, six.
The MoD said an investigation has been launched into the death of Kingsman Dawson, amid suggestions he could have been the victim of “friendly fire”.
The 19-year-old died in the Musa Qala area of Helmand Province on Sunday.
The teenager, from Stalybridge, Manchester, was deployed to Afghanistan on January 16 after passing a course to become a sniper.
He was killed while taking part in an ambush of suspected militants near Patrol Base Minden in the north of Helmand.
In a statement released today, the MoD said: “Early indications suggest that his death was possibly caused as a result of ‘friendly fire’.”
The young soldier leaves his parents, Sean and Karen, brothers Jack and James, sisters Anna, Danielle and Summer, and his girlfriend, Sadie.
A total of 261 British service personnel have died since the start of operations in Afghanistan in 2001.