AS people around the world stop to remember fallen military personnel on Armistice Day, a local nurse will lay a wreath on behalf of those who were injured in battle.

And Careen Berry knows more than most about the horrors of war.

Her current day job at Rastrick Health Centre seems a million miles away from what she was doing four years ago.

In 2007 she completed a three-month tour of Afghanistan with the Territorial Army.

She served as a corporal in a field hospital near Camp Bastion, patching up injured soldiers, children and civilians – often those who had lost limbs.

Now she has been selected by Blesma, the British Limbless Ex Service Men’s Association, to lay their wreath at the war memorial at Greenhead Park.

Careen, who has volunteered with the TA since 2000, said: “I feel quite privileged that they asked me to lay the wreath for them.

“I think it’s brilliant what they do, they do a lot of fundraising and things for victims.”

Careen, who hails from Holywell Green, said her unit, the 212 Field Hospital, had been one of the first TA groups in the hostile country.

She added: “It was very different nursing. It was hot, it’s dangerous, it’s a war zone and you’re treating a lot of war injuries – ones you wouldn’t see in normal life like traumatic amputations.

“But we did brilliantly, it’s something I’m very proud of.

“We did the best for everyone that we could.”

Blesma is the national charity for limbless serving and ex-service men and women and their dependants and widows. Founded in 1932, it directly supports servicemen and women who lose limbs or eyes with grants, rehabilitation and welfare support.

Arnold Pickup, Blesma welfare representative for Huddersfield, Halifax and Bradford, said he had asked Careen to lay the wreath after meeting her at a function.

He said: “She’d never heard of Blesma but she said she’d experience of people losing limbs in Afghanistan so I invited her to lay our wreath.”

Blesma helps about two dozen ex-servicemen and women in the Huddersfield area, including World War II veterans.

Arnold, who used to run the Huddersfield branch before it closed in 2006, began fundraising after he met an amputee ex-serviceman from the Korean war in the early 1980s.

The Dalton man is ex-merchant navy and raised cash for victims by running marathons.

He has worked for the charity for more than 20 years, visiting soldiers and their families and organising monthly meetings.