On the day the war in Afghanistan claimed the life of the 300th British soldier, two Fife mothers of Black Watch soldiers who died in the conflict said the troops should continue their mission.
Corporal Thomas “Tam” Mason was only 27 when he died last October of injuries he had sustained six weeks earlier while serving with The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Cpl Mason’s mother Linda Buchanan said she believed British troops should remain in Afghanistan.
As a plaque to her late son was unveiled at his former high school in Dunfermline she said, “They have gone out there to do a job and the guys out there believe they are doing a good job.
“Tam came back and talked about the infrastructure being put in place, about the education system and how things have changed as a result of them being there.
“To pull them out, to my mind, would be an insult to those who have lost their lives.
“My son and all our sons would have died for nothing but political gain.
“They should stay and finish the job.”
Janette Binnie, from Kirkcaldy, whose son Acting Sergeant Sean Binnie (22) was killed last May while on foot patrol in the country, believes that leaving before securing the country would be an insult to those 300 troops who have given their lives for the mission.
Now devoting her time to fund-raising for the charity Afghan Heroes which campaigns on the behalf of those troops involved in the conflict Mrs Binnie believes that despite the losses, the public must support the effort.
She said, “It’s infuriating that people keep on saying that we should be pulling our boys out of there.
“They don’t know what they’re talking about. If we pull the troops out now then 300 people have died for no reason.
“There’s too many families been devastated by this not to see it out.”
Cpl Mason, originally from Bellshill, Lanarkshire, but who was raised in Rosyth, was critically injured while on an operation in Kandahar province when an improvised explosive devise detonated last September.
Despite the efforts of medical staff, in Afghanistan and the UK, Cpl Mason died in Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, the following month.High priceBritain should keep asking how long it needs to remain in Afghanistan, Prime Minister David Cameron said after the death on Sunday of the 300th victim, a Royal Marine from 40 Commando.
The marine died from his wounds in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham after being injured in a blast in the Sangin district of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan eight days earlier, the Ministry of Defence said.
Mr Cameron said, “We are paying a high price for keeping our country safe, for making our world a safer place, and we should keep asking why we are there and how long we must be there.
“The truth is that we are there because the Afghans are not yet ready to keep their own country safe and to keep terrorists and terrorist training camps out of their country. That’s why we have to be there.
“But as soon as they are able to take care and take security for their own country, that is when we can leave.”
Cpl Mason, who joined the army in early 2005, went to Afghanistan on Operation Herrick in 2006, then returned for a promotion course.
On qualifying as a mortar fire controller in 2007, he was promoted to corporal and deployed again to Afghanistan last year.
His death left his family including mum Linda and her husband Charlie, wife Kylie, sisters Kelly and Lindsay-Ann and grandparents and wider family devastated.
Yesterday Dunfermline High School paid tribute to former pupil Tam Mason who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
His family, along with friends and many of his colleagues who had made the long journey from The Black Watch’s Fort George base, were proud to see the school, where Cpl Mason had studied as a teenager, mark his death for his country.
“He would have pretended to be embarrassed,” said mum Linda shortly after she unveiled a plaque in his memory.
“But secretly he would have been loving it.
“I know he is up there watching and saying, ‘Look at that. You guys haven’t a plaque.’
“He would be really pleased,” she said.
Rector Brian Blanchflower said the school already had plaques in honour of the staff and pupils who had laid down their life for their country in the first and second world wars.
“More recently, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, members of the British armed services have lost their lives, and this is to pay tribute to a Dunfermline High and Kings Road Primary pupil who lost his fight for life last year after sustaining very serious injuries,” he added.
Padre David Anderson, of The Black Watch, led the short service.
Mrs Buchanan revealed she had only discovered a short time ago that the padre had spent time at her son’s bedside in hospital in Afghanistan.
“The padre stayed with him in Kandahar before they flew him home.
“It gives me comfort because I hated to think of him injured or frightened, even though he may not have really known what was happening, and so far away and all on his own.
“It is lovely to know he was there and it means a lot to me that he came today to the service,” she said.
The padre said the dedication of the memorial was a lasting testament to the sacrifice, courage and selfless commitment of Cpl Mason in working towards peace and justice.
“Tam was a great son, good brother, husband, magnificent friend and tremendous soldier.Privileged”Quite surely and simply, he was one of the bravest men any of us here will be privileged to serve with,” he said.
Following a poem written by Mrs Buchanan and prayers those attending the service stood for the Collect for the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Collect of the Black Watch before pipers played Highland Cathedral.
Afterwards Mrs Buchanan told The Courier of the daily struggle she and her family had in trying to cope with losing the young soldier.
“It is very hard and at times very surreal you still expect to hear the phone ringing and because he was away a lot you play mind games thinking he’s just away again.
“When you wake up in the morning you think, ‘Tam’s not here,’ and you know the whole day you will be down and I can’t seem to lift myself out of it.”
She added, as her only son, there was a special bond between them and that it was not the proper order of things for parents to have to say goodbye to their children.
“But we have been very supportive as a family, we talk about him all the time, we go to the cemetery; personally I talk to him a lot in the house and I believe he’ll be listening.
“I am spiritual and I know there is something over there, that this is not the end,” she said.
Acting Sergeant Binnie died on foot patrol with Afghan forces near Musa Qala in Helmand on May 7 last year.
He and his colleagues came under attack while trying to clear a compound of enemy fire.
While throwing a grenade, Sean, who had only married months prior to his deployment, received a gunshot wound to the chest.
He was later pronounced dead at Camp Bastion hospital.
The suffering has been on-going for Mrs Binnie, who had a stroke on the first anniversary of her son’s death.
But she believes that the war in Afghanistan must be supported by the public.
“The talk is all about money just now but the government need to tell the people of this country what the troops are out there for.”