Paul Burns

March 1961 - June 2013

Paul Burns, 52, a true Blesma hero and an injured survivor of Warrenpoint 1979, died suddenly in a hospital in Berkshire on Friday 7th June. He was recovering from a broken leg, suffered whilst participating in the 52 mile 3 Counties Bike Ride the previous weekend.

Paul lived in Farnborough for over 20 years and is often described as an “extraordinary man”. He recently published his autobiography ‘A Fighting Spirit’. It’s a true story modestly told and extremely inspirational.

Paul was participating in the 3 Counties Bike Ride with friends from a charity closest to his heart, Blesma, The Limbless Veterans, when the accident occurred. He was on his hand bike when, to avoid other cyclists, he collided with a telegraph pole and suffered a broken femur. He was admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and remained there for a week until his sudden demise.

Newly recruited to the Parachute Regiment, Paul was 18 years old and performing a tour of duty in Northern Ireland when a four-ton truck he was travelling in was destroyed by an IRA bomb. 18 of his friends and colleagues were killed in the Warrenpoint blast — the biggest single loss of life during the Troubles.
Paul barely survived. His body was broken. Both his legs were smashed and burnt to the bone. His right leg was barely spared but his left leg was amputated below the knee. Those who saw him wondered if it might not be kinder to let him die.

But he refused to be beaten. He had made a promise to himself that he would make up for the loss of his friends’ lives by living his own life to the full. His story is a remarkable tale of one man’s determination to make the most of his life against the odds.

Paul had always been in pain – “it’s just a matter of how much” he used to say. In 2012 his right leg had to be amputated as a result of the complications in 1979.
He spent six years as a member of the Red Devils Parachute display team, completed the BT Global Challenge Round the World Yacht Race on “Time & Tide” the first all disabled race around the world. He was also a keen motorcyclist and owned a Harley Davidson.

Jerome Church, Chief Executive of Blesma, The Limbless Veterans says: “He was an extraordinarily nice man and a classic Blesma mentor. Always calm under pressure. In the great Blesma tradition of Member looking after Member, he reassured those recently injured that there was indeed a life ahead and inspired so many to seek it out.
“He always went for challenge whether it be on Blesma ski biking in the Alps, skippering a 65 foot yacht with an all amputee Blesma crew on the tough Fastnet offshore sailing race, passing on his skills as a sailing instructor on the Gwenilli Trust for disabled sailors, horse riding, canoeing and much else besides. Paul Burns will be remembered as a good man who suffered much and overcame all.”

Paul is survived by three grown up children Ben 27, Gina 26 and John 23.