A FORMER soldier who was shot in the head at the height of the Northern Irish conflict has shown returning troops his gratitude by buying them a pint.

Roger Lane, 58, was shot in 1974, while on tour in Northern Ireland. The bullet went up his nose and through the back of his right ear.

Mr Lane, who lives in Wolverhampton but works in Marsh Gibbon near Bicester, has spent the last few weeks gathering donations so he can buy troops flying back into Brize Norton, near Carterton, a well-earned beer. He drove to the base yesterday to deliver 1,200 beers, some also donated by Banks’s brewery and Tesco.

Mr Lane added: “I was a soldier myself so I know what it is like for them. They are doing a good job out there under tough conditions.”