A RIBBLE Valley war hero badly injured in Afghanistan hopes to walk unaided to lay a wreath at his local cenotaph.

Sergeant Rick Clement lost his legs in a bomb blast in the country’s Helmand province in 2010.

The 35-year-old former Chatburn resident said learning to walk again will be a long journey, but said he was up for the fight.

He walked for the first time on the legs, which cost around £50,000 each, in December, using bars to keep him steady.

He hopes he will have made enough progress by November to walk by himself to the cenotaph in his now-hometown of Blackpool on Remembrance Sunday.

Rick said: "At the minute, we are waiting for some parts for the legs so I'm not doing a great deal on my legs.

"Until we get the components, new knees and hip parts, it will not progress too well.

"I still don't know if unaided will be possible by then, but I'd like to think some form of walking will be possible.

"Until I have a better idea of what I will be able to do, I don't know what the plans will be, but I don't want to make a big deal of it — it's more of a personal target."

This week also saw Rick's charity, A Soldier's Journey, reach a significant milestone by raising a total of £200,000.

But in true military fashion, Rick continues to strive for more.

He said: "I have no plans to stop. I would like to reach £1 million for starters.

"My next big event will be boxing at the Pleasure Beach on June 20."

Rick faces gruelling sessions at the Specialist Mobility Rehabilitation Centre in Preston on the road to recovery.

While leading a foot patrol in May 2010 with the 1st Battalion Duke of Lancasters regiment, Rick stepped on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), a crude Taliban-made bomb, and was badly wounded.

As well as losing both his legs, the former Clitheroe Royal Grammar School student almost lost his right arm, and suffered appalling internal injuries, which mean he will never be able to become a dad.

Doctors told him he was lucky to be alive.

Since then, Rick has been both married and divorce, retired from the Army after 16 years of service, and campaigned for the Ministry of Defence to introduce a system allowing soldiers to provide sperm samples before going to war zones, so they are still able to have children should the worst happen.