We are raising money for Combat Stress, a charity that supports ex-servicemen and women who are suffering with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of their experiences in combat.

We have started this fund in loving memory of my father, Steven James Hughes, a former captain in the Parachute Regiment and the RMO for 2 Para during the Falklands conflict, who passed away due to liver disease in May 2018. 

His commanding officer in the Falklands, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Keeble, said this:

"Captain Steve Hughes was the brilliant RMO to the Second Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, during, and after, the Falklands War. Learning from the Israeli experience in combat, in 1982 Steve reversed the espoused protocols for the casualty, from evacuation to the rear medical services, to bringing knowledge, technology, and trained medics to the casualty on the battlefield. His radical approach saved lives both British and Argentine, and laid the foundational practices for medical care, developed in the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. 

"He was an inspiration with his creativity, dedication and skill; under fire, in extreme duress, and in appalling weather conditions. The Battalion wrote him up for a Military Cross, but those who make these ‘allocation’ decisions, distant from combat, decided otherwise. Steve was a magnificent medical officer in the finest tradition of Airborne Forces, admired, respected, and loved by those he served."

Dad was haunted all of his life by the things that he witnessed in the Falklands, and he was open about his experiences with PTSD. He was passionate about the need for greater mental health support for ex-servicemen, and was an invaluable source of strength and encouragement for many who opened up to him about their own experiences.

We ask that those who knew him donate to Combat Stress in aid of a cause that he cared deeply about. We hope that this will serve as a lasting reminder of the strength and compassion that Dad offered to those who suffered as he had suffered and come out fighting.