VETERAN soldier Captain Walter Barrie has been named as the Royal Scots Borderer killed in Afghanistan on Remembrance Sunday, writes Bob Burgess.
He was playing in a football match between British soldiers and members of the Afghan National Army when he was shot at close range by an Afghan soldier.
Captain Barrie, 41, was from Glasgow and joined the Royal Highland Fusiliers in 1987.
In 2007 he became Regimental Sergeant Major of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 Scots).
He was commissioned as an officer in 2009 and last year joined the Royal Scots Borderers (1 Scots) as second in command of D Company.
Captain Barrie has a 14-year-old son, Callum. His wife Sonia described him as a great man.
She added: “He was a doting father and a fantastic husband. He was much loved and will be missed by many.”
During his 25 years in the army he saw service in Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Ireland. This was his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.
He also served as an instructor at the Army Training Regiment Glencorse and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Tributes been paid military colleagues. They were led by the commanding officer of the Royal Scots Borderers, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Wrench.
He said : “My battalion and our regiment have lost both a soldiers’ soldier and an officers’ soldier.
“Captain Barrie was a dedicated husband to his wife Sonia and a loving father to his teenage son Callum.”
He was shot and killed at the forward operating base Shawqat in the Nade-Ali district of Helmand Province.
Comments