By Dave Gudgeon

Last updated 05:37, Friday, 29 August 2008

THE man who led Cumbria’s part-time soldiers through a six-month mission in war-torn Afghanistan was following in his grandfather’s footsteps.

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Welcome home: Sue Wynn, right, kisses her son Jonathan as he returns home from Afghanistan on Sunday

Territorial Army Captain Nick Kennon, a Carlisle-based lawyer in civilian life, took part in foot patrols and searches in Kabul as his troops helped to secure the Nato headquarters there.

It was about 80 years ago that his grandfather Alec Kennon, a soldier with the Border Regiment as it was then, carried out similar duties on the Khyber Pass in the aftermath of the brief Anglo-Afghan war.

Nick, platoon commander with the 4th Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, said: “It is ironic that my grandfather and myself have been performing similar tasks so many years apart in the same part of the world.

“I know he served on the Kyber Pass which then ran between India and Afghanistan because Pakistan did not exist. He was involved in looking for contraband goods and munitions. All this time later we were seeking out roadside bombs.

“My grandad died when I was a teenager but I remember him being a very tough man. He joined up for 10 years after World War One and then stayed on because there were no jobs in the Great Depression.

“When it came to the end of his second 10 years he had no choice other than to stay on because World War Two was looming. He spent an awful lot of his time serving abroad.”

Nick and his men spent most of their time on guard duty at the HQ of the International Security Assistance Force, but every third or fourth day they would go out into the city on patrol. They were the only troops to do so on foot.

Nick said: “It meant we were able to build up a real rapport with the locals. There are very wealthy parts of Kabul and very poor ones – not much more than shanty towns. People living there just want the basics of life. They would like proper sewage systems, power supplies that they can rely on and hospitals – things that we take for granted. We took on board their requests and passed them on but never made promises to them.”

One of the members of Nick’s platoon was Kingsman Jonathan Wynn, from Carlisle, who worked as forklift driver before his first tour of duty.

The 24-year-old was re-united with his family on Sunday afternoon at a barracks in Lancashire where he was also presented with his service medal.

He said: “I was never really felt frightened. We were the only people doing foot patrols so we were able to get much closer to the local people.

“The younger ones were interested in our chocolate and supplies while older people wanted to know when they might see the end of sewage flowing down the streets.

“I got the impression that all they wanted was to live in peace.

“The Afghans don’t cause trouble – it seems to come from over their borders.

“I’m really not sure what I’m going to do next. What I’m really looking forward to doing is going out with my mates. I’ve thought about joining the regular Army in the past and I’m still 50/50 about that. It would be great if we were doing tours of duty all the time.”

Jonathan was welcomed home by mum and dad Sue and Robert and his grandparents, Richard and Mary Burrow, who live in south Cumbria.