SOLDIER Karl Glynn has been learning new skills during a six-month tour of Bosnia.

For the former St Cuthbert's pupil has been helping to restore a bomb-hit hospital in the war-ravaged country.

Karl (24), a corporal with 1st Battalion The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, was a member of the NATO Peace Implementation Force which has begun the process of rebuilding lives and buildings.

An Assault Pioneer with the Battalion and an infantry-trained artisan, he was not prepared for the extent of the destruction when he arrived. "My first impression was shock. Everywhere we went was badly damaged or destroyed," he said. "I also felt very sorry for the local people, especially the children, that was the hardest thing to come to terms with."

He spent the first four months in the north of Bosnia carrying out high-profile patrols to reassure the local people and help support the peace process. The last two months were spent in Gornji Vakuf working on the badly-damaged hospital in the town of Bugojno which has received 12 direct hits from mortar and artillery fire, while a further 20 explosions took place right next to it.

More than £75,000 was provided by the Overseas Development Agency to reconstruct and repair the hospital after soldiers from 1QLR visited it and saw the state of the building. It had no heating or hot water system, the sanitation facilities were a health hazard, most of the fixtures and fittings were missing or broken, hardly any windows were intact and there was a large blast damage crater in the roof of the annexe.

British soldiers have installed all the new plumbing in the hospital, as well as carpentry repairs, plaster work, painting, repairing the ambulance and building benches for the gardens.

"My job was basically like an odd-job man," Karl said. "But I helped to co-ordinate work in different areas. I also learnt new skills and was able to put them into practice."

Karl, who joined the army eight years ago, is currently enjoying a well-earned leave with wife Tracey and their son at home in in Parr.

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