A BOLTON man spoke today about how his sex-swap brother changed overnight from Falklands War hero to a dress-wearing woman.

Bolton ex-naval serviceman Brian Waling -- now called Lynda Cash -- became the first transsexual to parade with fellow war veterans during London's Remembrance Day march.

The 48-year-old, who served with Prince Andrew on HMS Invincible during the Falklands conflict, wore a blue skirt, floppy hat and sported a white handbag just minutes after the Queen and PM Tony Blair laid wreaths at the capital's Cenotaph.

But today the transsexual's brother Trevor Speak, of Daubhill, Bolton, defended the sex-swap war veteran and said he had every right to march with comrades who fought for their country.

He told the BEN in an exclusive interview: "Brian just arrived at our house one day wearing a dress and saying he was now a woman and wanted to be called Lynda.

"All of a sudden I had to tell people I had two sisters instead of one and my kids had to try and understand why they had an auntie instead of an uncle.

"It was a massive shock and it led to us drifting apart because it was a very difficult situation to handle. But Brian has the right to do what he wants with his life and I was also very proud of what he achieved in the Falklands. There's no reason why he shouldn't wear his medals and march with pride like everyone else."

Information technology expert Mr Speak, 44, also revealed how Bolton-born Lynda, now living in Westhoughton, had been a Bolton Sea Cadet and a factory sheet metal worker at Booth's Steel Works, Bolton, before joining the Navy.

During the 1982 Falklands campaign, Brian, who has a son from a former marriage, served as leading medical assistant on HMS Invincible and spoke with helicopter pilot Prince Andrew. But two years after the war, the naval man, who grew up in Kent Street and Church Street, Bolton town centre, divorced his wife and then underwent a sex-swap operation in 1988.

Younger brother Mr Speak, a father-of-three, added: "He never gave any clue that one day he wanted to be a woman because he'd always had macho sort of jobs."

Yesterday Lynda, who uses her late mother's maiden name Cash, referred media inquiries to a freelance journalist who told the BEN that Lynda was ready to sell her story and would want money for follow-up interviews.

Mr Speak added: "Brian was very close to his mother and she died while he was serving in the Falklands. We've always wondered whether that had a bearing on his decision to change his sex."

Shortly after the London Remembrance Day parade Lynda told a national newspaper: "I have served my country and wore my medals with pride. I have nothing to hide."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.