A Love Forged in Flames ; They'd Been Engaged for Just Five Weeks When He Went Off to Fight the Taliban. The Next Time Michelle Saw Martyn, He Was Burned Beyond Recognition. The Story of How Their Love Survived Is Truly Awe- Inspiring [Scot Region]

Daily Mail › February 28, 2009

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Summary

MARTYN Compton, a headstrong young soldier, met Michelle Clifford in a Kent pub in January 2006, and at their very first meeting he knew she was 'the one'. From that day on, the couple were virtually inseparable and, in June, Martyn picked a gold and silver engagement ring and asked Michelle to marry him. She lost no time in saying 'yes'.

The only cloud on their blissfully happy horizon was that Martyn - - then aged just 22 -- was about to be posted to Afghanistan for his first tour of duty with the Household Cavalry.

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A Love Forged in Flames ; They'd Been Engaged for Just Five Weeks When He Went Off to Fight the Taliban. The Next Time Michelle Saw Martyn, He Was Burned Beyond Recognition. The Story of How Their Love Survived Is Truly Awe- Inspiring [Scot Region]

Michelle, a teacher three years his senior, was characteristically practical. 'Well, it's your job,' she told him.

Five weeks later, Martyn and his colleagues drove into a Taliban ambush. Three of his friends died instantly when a rocket propelled grenade slammed into the armoured vehicle that Martyn was driving.

Martyn, however, survived both that and a second grenade attack, but was appallingly injured in the subsequent explosions and fighting. Hovering on the brink of death, he was flown back to Britain with 75 per cent burns to his body and a badly broken leg shattered by a Taliban bullet. No one knew whether he would live.

But equally, no one knew whether the couple's still very new love would survive. The handsome young man Michelle had waved a tearful goodbye to only a few weeks earlier had gone for ever; no one would have blamed...

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