INFORMATION from the intelligence unit in the Gulf led to a 26-year-old Swarthmoor soldier being moved to safety.

In one of three airmail letters to arrive at his parents house this week in Park Avenue, Swarthmoor, Corporal Colin Opie, said he had been positioned five-kilometres south west of Basra.

But after the intelligence unit received information that the area was to come under fire the 212 Signal Squadron, allied to the A UK Armoured Division Signal Regiment, was moved.

Corporal Opie told his parents, Colin and Olive, that he was now in the army's main headquarters about ten-kilometres from Basra and that he was working from 8am to 8pm every day.

Corporal Opie has also managed to call his wife, Emma, who is also in the Army and based in Germany with their eight-month-old son Kian, this week the first time they have spoken since war broke out.

"I feel confident now that he is okay, so I am much better. It also put Emma's mind at rest. She said the call was only for a couple of minutes but she was dead chuffed. I know he will be out there for quite a while even when it is over but it doesn't sound like he is great danger at the moment," said Mrs Opie.

In his letters written on March 28, 31 and April 3, Corporal Opie said: "It will be great when it's all over and I can chill out with Emma and Kian and maybe even come home for a while."

The former Ulverston Victoria High School pupil, who joined the Army ten years ago, also wrote about the scorching heat in Iraq. "It is about 32 degrees at about 10am and, before you ask, I haven't got a suntan.

"What I would do for a few nice cool lagers and a cool swimming pool now."

April 17, 2003 16:30