THE horrors of war hit home to one local family when they waited anxiously to hear if their son was one of the first casualties from the Gulf.

Eight Royal Marines and four US soldiers were killed when the US Ch-46 crashed in Kuwait last Friday ( March 21).

Richard Jeffrey, 21, is a Royal Marine serving with 45 Commando.

His parents Ian, a prison officer, and Pincrofts worker Pat, from Adlington, have not heard from him since the start of the war and feared the worst when the helicopter downed on only the second day of the war.

The 12 dead men became the first coalition troops killed.

Ian said: "Of course we were scared when we heard. We didn't know if Richard was still alive or not.

"You do fear the worst, but we had to assume that if Richard was involved we would have been informed straight away.

"We just felt so sad for those families whose relatives were involved."

Richard served in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and his dad Ian was in the navy for seven years.

His 19-year-old brother Aidan is also in the army and is currently waiting to see if he is called up to serve in the Gulf.

Tragically, Richard left for Iraq as his mother underwent chemotherapy for cancer, which she has been battling for 10 years.

She is being treated for the melanoma cancer which affects bone marrow at Christie's Hospital in Manchester.

"Of course Richard was concerned about his mother having to have treatment for cancer, but he has a job to do in the Gulf and we know he's thinking about her," said Ian.

"He's incredibly supportive but we have known about the cancer for 10 years, so it wasn't a huge shock that she needed to have the treatment."

Richard, a former pupil of Southlands High School, Chorley, joined the Marines after a careers advice lecture while studying at Runshaw College.

He passed out in June 2001 following a 40-week intensive training course.

Richard returned to Adlington several weeks ago before flying out to the Gulf. "He always comes back when he has leave," said Ian.

"He loves Chorley and has friends from school who are also in the Marines. His girlfriend Sarah, a student at Leeds University, lives here. Unfortunately he might miss her 21st birthday in April, which he's not too happy about!"

Ian and Pat can only communicate with Richard via occasional letters, which take around a week to reach home. "Because the letters take so long we don't know if he's actually in Iraq or not," said Ian.

"But he's brilliant at his job and wherever he is we're very, very proud of him."