Sergeant Paul G Upton

Eulogy by JATEU (now called JADTEU)

Sgt Paul Upton was born in Middlewich, Cheshire on 6 May 1970. He joined the Parachute Regiment on 27 June 1989 and, after completing training, was posted to the 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment based at Aldershot. Paul completed several operational tours including: Kosovo, Northern Ireland and Iraq. After completing a combat medic course he served as a regimental medic until he was posted to the Joint Air Transport Evaluation Unit (JATEU) on 16 August 2004.

Paul served as the medic on Airborne Trails Section at JATEU and, as a trained military parachutist, he was often called upon to advise on military parachuting matters. He was also a keen civilian parachutist having attended several adventurous training courses where he achieved the British Association Category 8 Solo Skydiver qualification.

A keen fitness enthusiast, Paul quickly established himself as a strong competitor in any physical fitness challenge, representing JATEU in station commander’s Cup events and he was also a keen member of the infamous JATEU football team.

On Saturday 02 Jun 2007, as part of team JATEU, Paul entered the Welch 1000 Race. This event requires teams and individuals to navigate around an arduous course in the Snowdonia National Park, including the four peaks over 1000 m. The race begins at Aber, a small village on the coast of North Wales and it crosses the three mountain ranges of Snowdonia; first the Caneddau, then the Glydderau and, finally on to the Snowdon Horseshoe, where the race finishes appropriately on Snowdon’s impressive summit. The accumulated ascent for the day is estimated by the organisers to be at about 8000ft.

Tragically during the race on Carnedd Llewellyn, above the Ffynnon Llugwy Reservoir, Paul ran into low cloud and became disorientated and fell 500ft. An RAF rescue helicopter was called to the scene, but Paul was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. Rescuers believed that he suffered a heart attack after the fall.

Paul left behind his fiancée Kerry and two children Amy and Ryan. He will be greatly missed by all the many friends and colleagues that knew him or worked alongside him; he was a shining example to us all.