Simon Weston

Simon Weston (born 8 August 1961) is a Welsh veteran of the British Army who is known for his charity work and recovery from severe burn injuries suffered during the Falklands War.

Weston was born at Caerphilly District Miners Hospital in Caerphilly.

He was brought up by his mother, Pauline and adoptive father, "Lofty".

His biological father served in the Royal Air Force alongside his mother.

Simon lived in Singapore and at RAF Hospital Nocton Hall in Lincolnshire before returning to Nelson at the age of around six or seven.

He has one elder sister, Helen, and three stepbrothers.

At the age of 14, Weston was given a police caution when he was caught as a passenger in a car stolen by his older friends.

He joined the Welsh Guards in 1978 at the age of 16 at the insistence of his

mother, after he "got into bother".

He served in Berlin, Northern Ireland and Kenya before being deployed to the Falkland Islands.

On 8 June 1982, Weston was embarked with other members of his regiment in RFAUX Sir Galahad (1966) in Port Pleasant near Fitzroy, just off the Falkland Islands.

Sir Galahad was bombed and set on fire by Argentine Skyhawk fighters during the Bluff Cove Air Attacks.

The ship was carrying ammunition as well as phosphorus bombs and thousands of gallons of diesel and petrol.

Out of his platoon of 30 men, 22 were killed.

The Welsh Guards lost a total of 48 men killed and 97 wounded aboard the Sir Galahad.

Weston survived with 46% burns, following which his face was barely recognisable: He said:

"My first encounter with a really low point was when they wheeled me into the transit hospital at RAF Lyneham and I passed my mother in the corridor and she said to my gran, 'Oh mam, look at that poor boy' and I cried out 'Mam, it's me!' As she recognised my voice her face turned to stone."

Weston endured years of reconstructive surgery, including over 96 major operations or surgical procedures.

Skin from his shoulders was used to make eyelids, and skin grafts also repaired healing contraction to his nose.

He suffered psychological trauma, drinking heavily and becoming suicidal, and admits his behaviour during this time was "terrible".

He credits his mother with helping him to overcome this, in particular, her act of reuniting him with his old regiment, who refused to mollycoddle him (especially Glen White, who ran the Welsh Guards rugby side), forced him to "face up to the unavoidable and to be positive about everything including especially my future".

Weston has made regular contributions to radio programmes and appeared on television, especially within Wales.

He has been the subject of several BBC documentaries and presented his own radio show Face for the Radio for BBC Radio Wales.

In 1986, Weston undertook his first goodwill tour, to Australia, at the request of the Guards Association of Australasia.

The resulting donations to children's burns units made him begin to feel useful again.

Weston became patron of a number of charities that support people living with disfigurements, as well as the lead ambassador for The Healing Foundation.

He also set up a national youth charity, Weston Spirit, in 1988 with Paul Oginsky and Ben Harrison, shortly after moving to Liverpool.

He has also appeared on programmes such as This Is Your Life (appearing on 7 February 1990; aged still only 28, Weston was one of the show's youngest-ever guests) and later Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? He was featured in a £7 million advertising campaign launched in 2000 aimed at boosting recruitment into the police force.

He has written best-selling autobiographies as well as a series of novels.

In 2003 he announced that he had been in talks over plans to make a film about his life.

He has been interviewed on many occasions for television news programmes and documentaries recounting his experiences, including appearances on 14 June 2007, the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War ending.

On 12 March 2007 he appeared on ITV News, giving his opinion on the care of British soldiers in hospital.

However, in 2008, the charity suffered from financial difficulties and had to be shut down.

Weston is also a patron of the LMS-Patriot Project.

The Project is constructing a new replica LMS Patriot Class steam locomotive, number 5551 The Unknown Warrior.

On 4 March 2008, he appeared alongside Conservative leader David Cameron as he announced the formation of a commission to investigate ways to help restore the "military covenant", which Cameron called "well and truly broken".

It was intended that Weston would take a non-partisan, advisory role to the Commission (headed by Frederick Forsyth), with his work taking a particular focus to the treatment of veterans and the compensation paid out to injured service personnel.

On 10 November 2018 in a ceremony at Crewe Heritage Centre he unveiled the locomotives new crest which would be carried above the locomotives nameplates (the previous one being the Royal British Legion crest which the RBL later asked to be removed from the engine).

Weston has campaigned in support of troops and veterans and against politicians' alleged failure to support them adequately.

He has spoken out against defence budget cuts and British troops allegedly being supplied with inadequate equipment, and about the lack of support, health care and adequate compensation for veterans.