Remembering the Fallen: on this day in 2009 Corporal Danny Nield from 1st Battalion, The Rifles, was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade being fired by an Afghan soldier fighting next to him malfunctioned and exploded, north of Musa Qaleh in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
At the age of thirteen he had joined the Army Cadets, and in 1993 joined the Gloucestershire Regiment. He completed the Potential JNCO Cadre in 1999, left the army in 2004 but rejoined two years later, and following the founding of The Rifles he passed the Forward Air Controllers’ Course. Corporal Nield served in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Kosovo and twice in Afghanistan – he is remembered as having “the steely professionalism of a true warrior.”
Major Nick King, Officer Commanding S Company OMLT, 1 RIFLES said: “Corporal Danny Nield was a highly professional member of a small team operating under often extremely stressful circumstances here in Afghanistan. Cool under fire, he intuitively provided timely advice and effective air support having a decisive impact on the enemy and helping extract his colleagues from tight situations on more than one occasion. Corporal Nield thrived in the small team environment where his sense of humour was most devastating! A proud and reliable Rifleman, he will be sorely missed by all that had the pleasure of knowing him.”
Danny, from Cheltenham, was 31 years old.