Bikers ride out in memory of fallen soldier Doug Grant

Friday, 19 August 2016

Annual charity motorcycle ride in remembrance of Doug Grant who was killed in Afghanistan

It was a roar of gunfire that took the life of SAS soldier Doug Grant, but a roar of motorcycle engines that remembers him.

The annual memorial ride for Grant, known as 'Duggy', began on Friday morning exactly five years after his death.

Grant was shot in the heart in 2011 during a Taliban attack on British diplomatic offices in Kabul while attempting to save hostages.

SAS member Doug Grant became the first member of the elite unit to die in combat since Vietnam when he was shot in the heart in Afghanistan in 2011.

He became the first member of the SAS to die in combat since Vietnam.

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Every year since his death fellow motorbike enthusiasts and members of his club the Patriots, largely made up of military personnel, have gathered to remember their fallen friend.

This year the ride began at a Defence Force chapel in Auckland with a memorial service before heading south towards Napier where Grant is buried.

Along the way hundreds of riders were expected to join the memorial 'poker run'.

Grant's widow Tina Grant said the pair used to ride together for the Patriots.

Following his death she sold her own bike and now rides her husband's as she could never sell it.

'Douglas and I used to ride with the NZDF motorcycle club, he was the eleventh member of the Manawatu chapter and I used to ride on the back of the bike with him and he got sick of that and said 'I'm gonna buy you a bike' so he bought me a bike and we used to do tours together.'

Remembering her husband but also other fallen soldiers was necessary not just for herself but the entire country, she said.

'I think it's important to keep his memory alive as well as our fallen past soldiers, the reason being now we're contemporary soldiers going into contemporary conflicts.

'In the past 10 years in Afghanistan we lost over 11 soldiers so it is important to remember our soldiers today and what they do.'

Grant's younger brother Ian Grant was also on the ride, having joined the Patriots at his brother's urging about eight years ago.

The club had taken him under their wing and provided great support after his brother was killed, personally and through the annual memorial ride.

'It's absolutely completely humbling, absolutely humbling experience.

'All these people are all here for one reason and that's to remember someone who paid the ultimate price really, gave their life for something he really did believe in and was a strong supporter of.

'He truly believed there was some good to be done in Afghanistan and he was there doing it.'

The ride included not only club members but also motorcycle enthusiasts who did not know Grant but wanted to honour his sacrifice.

Friend and memorial ride road captain Carl Shepherd said he was sure Grant was chuffed with the turnout and watching over his loved ones.

'He turns the weather on every year, it's like this every year…I know he's watching over us and real proud that everyone gets together, even people that have never even met him before, you know he paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country and that's why they join us on the ride.'

All funds raised during the ride go to the Douglas Grant Childrens Memorial Trust Fund.