Remembering the Fallen: on this day in 2010, Sergeant David Thomas Monkhouse, The Royal Dragoon Guards, was killed in Afghanistan, in an explosion in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province.

On leaving school at 16 he joined the Junior Leaders’ Regiment, then in 1992 the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards as a Chieftain Gunner (before it was amalgamated into the Royal Dragoon Guards). He served on four tours in Northern Ireland and also in Iraq, and qualified as a Regimental Combat Medical Technician Class 1, considered the stalwart of the Regimental Medical Centre.

Major Marcus Mudd said: “Sergeant Monkhouse was a man-mountain, our medic, a father figure, and to all of us he was a true friend. A larger than life character, his ready smile and hearty laugh belied an exceptionally robust and efficient core. He loved his job and his role within the Brigade Reconnaissance Force; he was a consummate professional. Cool and effective under fire, Sergeant Monkhouse continually placed himself where the fighting was at its fiercest in order that he could best treat the squadron’s casualties. His presence on operations gave the men of the squadron enormous confidence and he set a fine example for the younger soldiers of the BRF, always putting the needs and welfare of others before his own safety. Sergeant Monkhouse died on the front line of an operation, his loss will be keenly felt within the squadron that he was so much a part of - he was an exceptional soldier and he will not be forgotten.”

David, from Aspatria, Cumbria, was 35 years old and left behind a young daughter.