Kit call for Kilimanjaro

An amputee Serviceman preparing to climb Africa’s highest mountain is making an eleventh hour appeal for kit to take with him.

Lance-corporal Johno Lee, 27, of Coddington, leaves for Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro on Wednesday next week for a ten-day ascent.

He plans to leave a replica of his Afghanistan campaign medal at the summit of the 19,340ft mountain.

“If I have to make the climb in a woolly pullover and my combat boots I will do,” Lance-corporal Lee said.

“I have got my combat boots and some old stuff that I have managed to pull together.

“I have written to a number of companies but so far no one’s been able to help.”

Time is short but he says he needs a good pair of walking boots, a waterproof jacket and waterproof clothing, and cold weather gear.

Lance-corporal Lee, who leaves the Army on April 15 and gets married on June 9, is part of a team of current and former Servicemen, including members of the SAS.

The Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne will also be with them.

The climb will help to raise awareness of the challenges that amputee Servicemen face.

It is being organised by the Special Forces charity, Pilgrim Bandits, of which Lance-corporal Lee is a patron.

“It’s only a small charity and they can’t afford to pay for us to do the climb and to kit us out,” Lance-corporal Lee said.

He lost his right lower leg after an explosion in Helmand Province in 2008.

Since then he has not let his disability hold him back, and has taken on challenges including crewing a yacht with fellow amputee ex-Servicemen.

He is also an ambassador for Newark Patriotic Fund.

Any individual or business who can help with kit should contact the Advertiser newsdesk on 01636 681234.