A teenage soldier who faces having to learn to walk again after losing both his legs in a Taliban bomb attack is back home with his family in Melksham for Christmas.

Private Josh Campbell, 19, who is being treated at the Armed Forces Rehab-ilitation Centre at Headley Court, Surrey, returned to Melksham on Friday to spend Christmas with his mother and stepfather Helen and Grant Martin.

Pte Campbell, who was on parade in Bicester last month with fellow comrades from the 23 Pioneer Regiment, based in St David’s Barracks in Bicester, suffered horrific injuries in a Taliban attack, while serving in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.

The former George Ward School pupil is optimistic he will be walking again sooner rather than later.“I have been doing a lot of gym work, building up my upper body strength, it’s always a challenge, but I am very positive about it and want to move on with it,” he said.

“I’ll be having them (prosthetic legs) when I go back to Headley Court on January 10. It’s going to be all about learning to walk with them, and it will depend on how fast my body adjusts, but then when I have finished there and can walk again I will go back to where I was before, my regiment.

“I will be in and out of Headley Court for the next year or so, but it just depends on how fast I learn to walk as to how things progress.

“I will be working Monday through to Friday every week doing two sessions of physio a day and sessions in the gym and swimming.

“People have reacted very positively towards me. You can see that from me being invited to the factory to do the Christmas draw and people are very supportive.

“I still have good friends in Melksham, but have made some really strong friendships at Headley Court too; some real friends for life.”

Pte Campbell was manning a heavy machine gun in the turret of a Mastiff armoured vehicle when it was bombed.

His life was saved by fellow soldier Lance Corporal Jason Gordon, 34, who fashioned a tourniquet to stem the bleeding seconds after the explosion. The teenager was flown to Camp Bastion and then to Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham. During a week-and-a-half while he was unconscious, surgeons amputated his legs.

He will be spending three weeks over Christmas with his mother and stepfather at their home in the Forest area of Melksham, seeing friends and family, including visiting an aunt near Cirencester on Boxing Day.

As well as undergoing a tough rehabilitation regime, Pte Campbell said he had also been mingling with the stars at Headley Court.

The army invited celebrity guests to the centre in the run-up to Christmas, including Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp and striker Jermain Defoe, as well as Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne.

“I also met Jimmy White the snooker player and we had some Zoo models and Page three girls in last week serving us Christmas lunch which was very nice,” he added.

His stepfather Mr Martin, who has worked as a tyre builder for Cooper Avon Tires in Bath Road for 14 years, said the firm had given him all the time off he needed, as had Coleman’s Dental Practice in Timbrell Street, Trowbridge, where Pte Campbell’s mum Helen works as a dental nurse.

Soldier's firm support

Injured Melksham soldier Josh Campbell picked the winning tickets at Cooper Tires’ Christmas draw on Monday, and was presented with a signed Bath rugby shirt.

The festive raffle at the Bath Road factory has raised more than £4,000 for the armed forces charity Help for Heroes.

More than 2,000 tickets were sold to employees and their friends and family, with raffle prizes including a mountain bike, TV, festive hampers and a giant cuddly bear. All the prizes have been donated by Cooper Tires, its suppliers and the Unite union.

Steve Saunders, Cooper Tires’ Unite representative, helped run the draw.

He said: “The support from everyone within the company has been fantastic. We raised a lot more money than we thought we would, especially with the economy the way it is.

“People like Josh are the real reason we do these fundraisers. He risked his life for our country and this is a way of saying thank you.”

The Christmas spirit wasn’t lost on managing director Julian Baldwin, who agreed to provide staff with a free Christmas dinner, as well as doubling the amount made from raffle ticket sales.