A SOLDIER crippled by an explosion in Afghanistan has revealed how he met his fiancée at an Army friend's funeral.
Aron Shelton, 29, was injured in the same Taliban blast that killed his friend, Drummer Thomas Wright, 21, in June 2007.
Now, Mr Shelton, who had been travelling with his friend in a "Snatch" Land Rover that struck a bomb, has told for the first time how he met his now-fiancée, Callan Fowler, at the funeral.
He said: "It's so sad that we lost Tom but one good thing to come out of it is that I met Callan.
"I was out of the hospital to be at the funeral and was on morphine and other drugs.
"A lady came up to me and just put her arms around me and I didn't know who it was."
Mr Shelton, of Bridlington, and Miss Fowler were introduced and the pair began writing to each other.
"It just blossomed from there and we've been together ever since," he said.
The couple, who are living in Derbyshire, have a 14-week-old daughter, Macie-Louise.
"I love every minute of being a dad," said Mr Shelton. "I can just look at her and she puts a smile on my face. I'm unbelievably proud."
Drummer Thomas's mother, Judith, said she is pleased her son's friends have got together.
She said: "Aron and Callan make such a lovely couple. Callan's mum and I talk about it all the time."
Mr Shelton chose to have his leg amputated in 2008 after suffering immense pain in his left leg.
He was medically discharged from 2nd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment two years later and applied for Disability Living Allowance.
However, it was refused on the grounds that he had told the Department for Work and Pensions he could walk 400m.
After 18 months of appeals and help from the Royal British Legion, Mr Shelton won a tribunal that entitled him to the benefit.
"I felt like I had been kicked in the face," he said. "When I was at my lowest point, the British Government just said it wasn't bothered."
