First Person: Margaret Evison

As told to Cole Moreton

Published: October 15 2010 23:49 | Last updated: October 15 2010 23:49

Margaret Evison
Margaret Evison’s son was fatally wounded when his patrol was ambushed in 2009
When my son Mark was killed I wanted to know whether his death had achieved anything, and to see for myself the country in which he had died while serving with the Army. So I went to Afghanistan.

Some people were very worried but my daughter said, “Mum, you should do it.” I thought that was brave of her, having just lost her brother. It is a dangerous place – at the time we were there, seven aid workers were murdered. I took leave from the hospital where I work as a psychologist and went in a group of seven led by Sandy Gall, the former war correspondent.

As we were flying into Kabul we came down tight and low over the mountains. Aircraft do sometimes crash there but there are so many mines it’s difficult to rescue survivors. We stayed in a lodge where you have to go past guards and through three big metal doors to get in. All cars are checked for bombs.

Mark was a lieutenant in the Welsh Guards and he loved it. One of my most precious possessions is a journal he kept while he was out there, absolutely beautifully written in longhand pencil, with no crossing out. At one point he writes, “Things are just great at the moment.” I spoke to Mark two days before he died – we had maybe 10 minutes that day and it felt good.

In May 2009 Mark’s patrol was ambushed and he was shot in the shoulder: the bullet severed a major artery. Two soldiers risked their lives to carry him on their backs, under fire, to the base.

They called for help at about 8.45am, but there was a 39-minute delay before the helicopter was authorised to go to them. If Mark had been picked up while he was still conscious he might have stood more of a chance. The Ministry of Defence won’t give a reason for the delay, and the inquest was unsatisfactory. Mark had written about the lack of supplies and support in his journal, just before he died.

I remember it was a particularly beautiful Saturday morning in May when I was told. An officer came to my house to tell me that Mark was being airlifted to a hospital in Birmingham, where a consultant broke the news that he was most likely brain-dead. Mark was lying there very peacefully, as if he was asleep. We were advised to switch off the machines – he was 26 years old.

Mark believed that young people need to take on challenges, to do things that are difficult and strengthening for them. We try to make that happen by giving out grants from a memorial fund, set up in his name. The first award was to fund two 16-year-olds climbing the four highest peaks in the UK. Another paid for some boys to have a day in a recording studio.

Going to Afghanistan was a challenge for me. Only the MoD can provide specific answers now, but it did help me to understand what had happened to my son, in the widest context. I found a very tribal country without a satisfactory legal system. Tribal people have had to use fighting and revenge as their tools to survive. When I was there, I met a young man in a market, who wanted to get on in life. He said that if he found someone from the Taliban he would get a gun and shoot him.

Mark wrote in his journal: “I seem to be the only one here who thinks that war might not be the answer.” I do agree with that. One would like to think that Mark died bringing some sort of relief from the brutality of the Taliban, for the locals and for women, for the sake of some sort of civilisation – but whether that is the case I am just not sure. Did Mark die for a just cause? Even after going there, it’s hard to know.

www.markevisonfoundation.org

The first Anglo-Afghan war was fought in 1839-42 between Britain and Russia in central Asia. There are currently 9,500 British troops deployed in Afghanistan, and more than 300 British military personnel have died since the first military offensive on October 7 2001. British prime minister David Cameron said in July that the withdrawal of British troops could potentially begin next year, with a longer-term aim of no troops in a combat role in Afghanistan by 2015.