In July that year I went down to Camberly to his passing out parade I was so proud of him, he had finally found something that he loved and seemed to be good at I suppose the years he spent in the cadets helped him cope with the discipline and the way of life, he looked so handsome in his dress uniform but then I would think that anyway, he was my son, but he really was a good looking young man. Once I figure out how to put photos on this site anyone visiting it will be able to judge for themselves. During his 12 weeks at camberly he had lost almost 2 stone in weight he was so thin his clothes were falling of him, so after the parade it was back home to Scotland and some serious shopping, he had saved a few pounds while he was away so mum was of the hook, for the first time in his life he was able to buy what he wanted and he just loved that, not having to depend on me. He was a responsible lad from that day he never asked me for any money again, his attitude was that it was his turn to help me, but I never asked him for anything but when he had been home on leave, when he left to go back I would always find money under the clock on the mantlepiece with a wee note "Buy yourself something mum love J.P." it was usually £50 which to me at that time was a lot of money. For the next 2years he was posted in Germany but was back in the U.K.quite a lot as he was always doing different courses for one thing or another, he even tried out for the paras on 2 different occasions but unfortunately never managed to complete the course, both times he was sent home on the second last day with leg injuries. He always said he would never give up on passing that course but he never got the chance. The last time he tried was in January 1993 and another opportunity never arose as they were preparing to go to Bosnia later that year, which never happened either because on the 28th of august that year he took a lift into Hamburg from a guy in his regiment who his friends had tried to tell him not to go in his car as he was a headcase behind the wheel, but J.P. wouldn't listen he had arranged to meet a girl in Hamburg at the Circus disco so him and his friend Christian Powell went in the car, they got there alright but on the way back at around 3.25am they were stopped by the police and the driver was warned about his speed but was allowed to continue as he had not been drinking 5 minutes later at around 3.35am he lost control of the car and ploughed into the back of a stationary articulated lorry. When the emergency services arrived they immediately pronounced the driver and Christian dead at 3.40am. it was not until they removed the car from under the lorry and cut of the roof that they found John Paul in the back seat he was pronounced dead at 4am.