A SOLDIER from Stourport is seeing action in the Gulf for the second time.

Richard Sanders, a 35-year-old captain in the Adjutant General's Corps, was with the Army Air Corps before being sent to Kuwait in January. He was also in the last Gulf war.

Richard, who has been in the Grenadier Guards for 17 years, has also had six stints in Northern Ireland, and has been a training officer with the British Military Training Team, training the Mozambique Army in counter-guerrilla warfare.

A former pupil of Old Swinford Hospital School, Stourbridge, he ran the London Marathon last year to boost funds for the Samaritans. Captain Richard Sanders

His mother, Anthea Wilkes, who is a volunteer with the Worcester-based charity, said: "He is a very caring person and I'm very proud of him."

Mrs Wilkes, of Ennerdale Road, Stourport, the former manager of the Tumbling Sailor pub, said Richard managed to phone her on Mother's Day. She said: "I was absolutely choked.

"It was lovely to hear his voice although he was not able to say much.

"He says 'idle talk costs lives' so he would not give any details of what he was up to."

Richard, who has also served on guard duty at Buckingham Palace, left school just before his 16th birthday to join the army.

His sister, Claire, lives in Hartlebury with her family.