An elderly British man has told of a 10 year ordeal, after he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion by mistake. The mix-up happened during a holiday in Algeria with his wife in 2003. Jed Carter, 92, from Sheffield, revealed how, over the last decade he'd seen active service with the legendary, crack troops in various trouble spots across the world, including Iraq, Afghanistan and The Democratic Republic Of Congo, where, his gallantry earned him The Legion D'Honnuer, France's equivalent of the Victoria Cross. Under fire from militia from the  notorious Lord's Resistance Army and despite being badly wounded, he single-handedly stormed the rebel stronghold, armed only with an assault rifle and a grenade.

 

He was eventually invalided out in January 2013 after a severe bout of Black Water Fever, picked up in the jungles of Guyana, left him unfit to continue military service.



Speaking to reporters from outside his bungalow in Rotherham, which he shares with wife Vera, 109 and 6 cats, he said "While I'm very proud of my military career I could have done without it to be honest with you, especially at my time of life. When I spotted this building with the words Legion Etranger over the door I thought it was the Algerian branch of The British Legion and popped in for a couple of pints and maybe a game of darts or bar billiards with the locals. I signed what I took to be the guest's entry book and then the next thing I knew I was parachuting into the jungle in Belize to quell an uprising by insurgent militiamen who were involved in a coup to overthrow the government.

 

"Over the next 10 years I fought in trouble spots right across the globe, alongside comrades from as far afield as Hungary and New Zealand to name but two. They were a great bunch of lads in all fairness, whose courage and soldiering expertise were second to none, but I did miss Vera's hotpots and going down the pensioners pop-in for a chin wag with our friends of a Saturday evening."

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In an unrelated case a 16 year old girl, also from Sheffield, has told of being forced to have a sing song round the piano before having her corns treated, after drunkenly mistaking an old people's home for a night club.