HERO soldier Jonathan Lee is learning how to walk again just weeks after losing a leg in an horrific explosion in Afghanistan.
Jonathan, aged 25, had to have his leg amputated below the knee when he was blown out of his military vehicle and was thrown in to the middle of a minefield.
Brave Jonathan bled heavily for two hours and had to inject himself with morphine, thrown to him by colleagues unable to reach him, as he waited to be airlifted from the danger zone.
He was flown back to Britain where he faced three operations to save his leg. But, despite a battle by doctors, it was amputated.
Now the young infantryman from Bolton, who is based with the 2nd Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment, known as the Green Howards, says he just wants to learn to walk again - and get back to Afghanistan and his friends.
He has been fitted with a new prosthetic leg and is undergoing intensive rehabilitation at the military centre, Headley Court, in Surrey.
He said: "It is painful. You have got to get over that pain and you have got to walk in it.
"You can't give up because then you might as well just go home.
"There is no point being here if you are not willing to work hard.
"I don't like to admit that I'm an injured soldier. I want to be out in Afghanistan with my friends.
"I feel like I have let them down by coming home early. I just want to get back there in 2009 to try and redeem myself by completing a full tour."
Jonathan revealed he should never have been in the turret of the military vehicle which was patrolling when it hit a landmine.
He told his father, Brian, who lives in Ladybridge, that a colleague should have been manning the turret, but he swapped with him because his fellow soldier was about to become a father.
Now Jonathan has told his father he will not be beaten by the incident and is determined to continue his Army career.
He was injured while on patrol on November 6.
His unit delivers supplies to the front line in Helmand province.
He was hurled from the vehicle in the landmine blast.
When he came round, he realised that his right leg was severely damaged and his left leg was also injured.
He started to crawl back to the vehicle when someone shouted at him to stop.
He was just six inches away from another land mine.
It was then the unit realised they had entered an uncharted minefield.
Jonathan lay there, badly injured, until bomb disposal experts cleared the area.
During that time his colleagues talked to him and threw him morphine which he injected himself with to try and ease the pain before he was flown out by helicopter.
Military doctors wanted to amputate his leg but it was decided to wait until Jonathan was flown back to the UK to leave the decision to medical staff back home.
Less than 24 hours later, he was flown to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham which has a military wing. Also flown back was a piece of bone from Jonathan's leg which was kept in a box under his bed - in case they could rebuild his shattered limb.
Jonathan was in terrible pain as his wounds has to remain open so they could be cleaned. It was found that his left leg was not as badly injured as first thought and he had a damaged heel.
Despite the efforts of surgeons, his right foot and part of his leg was amputated on November 20.
Jonathan insisted on calling his relatives to break the news to them himself.
Less than a month later, just before Christmas, Jonathan was transferred to Headley Court to begin his rehabilitation. He had his new leg fitted on January 16.
He spends weekdays at the centre and stays with his aunt in Newark at the weekends because it is closer to the centre.
Now the young soldier is ready to face the future and prove to himself that he can still do his job.
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