We’re following the route of allied invasion in June 1944 (From Worcester News)

We’re following the route of allied invasion in June 1944

6:10pm Wednesday 16th June 2010 in

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A TEAM from Worcestershire is taking part in a 4x4 challenge that aims to raise more than £100,000 for the military charity Help for Heroes.

Brothers Ed and Will Pawsey have entered the Heroes 4x4 European Rally 2010, which will take them across 1,650 miles of Europe, following the path of the allied invasion after D-Day in June 1944.

Ed, a captain in the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, who has recently completed his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, and Will, a former Royal Grammar School, Worcester, pupil and currently at university, will be driving a specifically prepared Land Rover Defender, accompanied by third team member, bomb disposal expert Captain James Kelly from Kendal in the Lake District.

“We see this as a great opportunity to raise money for a good cause and face an interesting challenge at the same time,” Ed said.

“I had some good friends killed or severely injured in Afghanistan and three men from our battalion lost their legs in explosions.

“With casualty numbers rising the charity Help for Heroes and all it stands for is now significantly more important than ever before.

“It’s going to be a long tough trip, but I have been lucky to have the Land Rover prepared by experts from Mantec Services of Nuneaton, the leading brand in off-road equipment and suppliers to the armed forces, Landrover and the G4 Challenge’’.

Ian Gough, who co-owns Mantec with his wife Sandra, said: “The combination of professionalism by the organisers and enthusiasm by this team is impressive and we are sure will result in a memorable journey for all involved.’”

Along with Mantec, three other Midlands firms have donated significantly to the effort, Worcester-based engineering consultancy Robert West, Arden Construction from Alcester and Mercian Labels from Telford.

Starting at the military training area of Salisbury Plain before moving on to the Normandy battlefields, the rally will visit the Rhine offensive at Arnhem, the scene of the largest airborne operation ever; Bastogne in Belgium, where, in the coldest winter for decades the Germans launched their final push the Battle of the Bulge; the Maginot Line fortifications and the horrors of Dachau, before ending at Hitler’s ‘impenetrable’ Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden in Bavaria.

Beginning on Saturday, the rally will cross six countries in 10 days and has attracted a capacity 45 teams from across the UK.

For more information, visit helpforheroes.org.uk.