Remembering the Fallen: on this day in 2011, Captain Lisa Jade Head, 321 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squadron, 11 EOD Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, died of wounds sustained the previous day in Afghanistan.

She had deployed three weeks earlier as an IED Disposal Operator with the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Task Force, based in the Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand province. On the day before her death she had rendered safe an IED, only to be severely injured while dealing with a second. First aid was provided immediately, she was taken to Camp Bastion and then to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, but sadly succumbed to her injuries.

She had studied human biology at Huddersfield University before attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2004, after which she commissioned into the Royal Logistic Corps and trained as an Air Transport Liaison Officer. She served in Iraq and on a first tour of Afghanistan, and served with distinction in Northern Ireland. She was considered to be an exemplary, popular and respected member of the Joint Force EOD Group, and a gifted Troop Commander.

Major Matt Middleditch said: “Lisa was quite simply a joy to have known and a privilege to have commanded. Professionally she was the very best; a natural leader who commanded respect, she led from the front both at work and at play. Her determination and drive to succeed in everything that she did made her stand out from the crowd, and it was no surprise to me that she had been selected to assume the appointment of Regimental Operations Officer following her tour in Afghanistan. Lisa was the life and soul of any social event and was really the centre of gravity for life in the Squadron and amongst her much wider circle of friends. Anyone who met her will remember her keen wit and sense of fun which would light up any occasion and would know that the world was a better place when she was with you. 321 EOD Squadron has a deep-rooted and proud tradition of Technical Excellence and Selfless Courage. Captain Lisa Head was the very embodiment of that tradition.”

Lisa, from Huddersfield, was 29 years old.