Private Daniel Steven Prior was born in Brighton on 31 December 1983 and attended Tideway school in Newhaven. His hometown was Peacehaven but he lived in Colchester.
Private Prior completed his basic training in August 2008 and was subsequently posted to the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment where he proved to be an exceptional soldier. He was a hugely valued member of the Battalion during his service in both the United Kingdom and Afghanistan and was immensely popular with all who knew and worked with him.
Private Prior had a very bright future ahead of him and had been identified as one of the next tranche of Non Commissioned Officers to be trained. Private Prior deployed to Afghanistan with D Company, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment on 13 October 2010 where he was based at Patrol Base 1 in the Nahr-e-Saraj District of Helmand Province.
On 16 March 2011, Private Prior's unit was tasked to provide fire support for his fellow paratroopers and the Afghan National Army during a reassurance patrol in a small village in Nahr-e-Saraj. At 1242 hours Private Prior was wounded by an improvised explosive device and, despite medical care in Afghanistan and in the UK, he died of his wounds on 18 March 2011 in the Royal College of Defence Medicine Queen Elizabeth NHS Hospital, Birmingham.
Private Prior had flown back from Afghanistan four weeks previously just in time to be present for the birth of his son, Logan, and spent two weeks with his wife and baby before his return to active duty.
Sadly, Daniel's uncle, Stephen Prior, also died on active service with the Parachute Regiment during the battle for Goose Green in 1982.
Courtesy of the MoD
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At occasional gatherings of veterans from the Falklands’ War and, importantly, the families of those we had lost in battle, I had from time to time come across Dan Prior – then a young schoolboy – with his family. Gradually, his interest began to focus on following in the footsteps of his uncle, Corporal Steve Prior, who was a section commander in my company and died during the battle for Darwin Hill, while recovering a wounded comrade to safety; an act of considerable courage without any thought for himself.
I had been fortunate to see Dan again when the Prior family received The Elizabeth Cross – in honour of Steve – just before 2 Para deployed to Afghanistan. He was excited about serving with his battalion on operations and playing his part in the close-knit team with whom he had trained. His family and his comrades in 2 Para have lost a fine, determined young man, with the best of ideals.”
Major General Dair Farrar-Hockley, MC
Captain David Abols DCM (Australian Defence Force)
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