A veteran attended the Royal British Legion's Iraq15 commemorations because it is 'important' to tell others there is help out there.14:27, 22 May 2026Veteran Mac McLaren today joins 1500 veterans and families to mark the 15th anniversary of the Iraq War because it ‘doesn’t end when you come home’.‌The 49-year-old, who served with the 1st Battalion Royal Highland Fusiliers, told how he was seconds away from ending his life, ready to pull the handbrake of his car and plunge into the Clyde Estuary.‌“I was homeless after I came back from Iraq. I ended up sitting in my car facing the Clyde and deciding whether to release the handbrake to end it,” Mac told The Mirror this morning. “But my OCD got the better of me when the notification went off on my phone. It was offering me a flat. “‌READ MORE: Russian troops shoot each other in chaotic scenes after Ukraine cripples communicationsREAD MORE: Donald Trump suddenly moves 5,000 troops to Poland amid Putin nuclear threatsMac suffered a debilitating leg injury during his service in Iraq, then endured years of chronic pain before making the difficult decision to have his leg amputated“It’s important for me to speak about it to help others. To tell them there is help out there from charities such as the Royal British Legion and The Stoll Foundation.”‌He told how after returning from Iraq he was left homeless, explaining: “It was before the new things had been put in place, I didn’t earn enough housing points. I lived in my car in Dumbarton near Glasgow.He told how he drove to Dumbarton Castle and parked up overlooking the Clyde. “I just thought ‘I’m done with it’. I’m going to take some paracetamol, release the handbrake and go to sleep. For me it’s emotional to speak about it but I want to help others.”He is attending a service at the National Memorial Arboretum to mark the 15th anniversary of the end of the Iraq War. The conflict saw 179 British armed forces personnel killed and 6,000 injured.‌One of those who died was Lieutenant Commander Darren Chapman, who was 40 years old, when his Lynx helicopter was shot down over Basra on May 6th 2006. The crash killed all five personnel on board in one of the deadliest incidents for the British forces during the war.At the time of his death, his children Chloe, Ben and Georgina were aged 15, 13 and seven. . His widow, mum-of-three Liz Chapman, 61, and their children visited the Basra Memorial Wall, where Darren’s name is engraved, one of the 179 who didn't come home.‌Chloe from Yeovilton in Somerset, cried as she recalled the day of that knock on the door and the family received the most devastating news of their lives. In a moment “everything changed”.“Our youngest was only a few months old then. Darren had actually already completed one tour, come home briefly, and then gone back out for what was only supposed to be a couple of weeks. He was really doing someone a favour - taking a new commanding officer around and helping out with the squadron. That’s how he ended up in the helicopter that day.‌“I remember the day everything changed so clearly. It was a Saturday. I saw reports of a helicopter crash on CNN and immediately tried to get hold of the squadron. I managed to get through eventually, and they seemed surprised that I’d heard about it already. I tried Darren’s mobile but there was no answer, which was unusual. The children were all at home from school, and I spent the entire day waiting, not knowing anything for certain.“The strangest thing was that Darren had phoned us earlier that day from the helicopter while he was flying. The connection was terrible …but we were all in the car chatting away to him on our old Nokia car phone. At the time it just felt funny and odd. Looking back now, it feels incredibly significant that he called us then.“That whole day stretched on forever. I didn’t tell the children there was a possibility something had happened. I think I was just trying to handle it all myself. The kids were young - fifteen, thirteen and seven - and I didn’t really know what to do with myself while we waited.‌“Then, late that night, around eleven or midnight, I heard people arriving outside the house. I remember hearing footsteps everywhere and thinking how strange it was. The padre and the officer of the watch came in. Friends arrived too. Everything suddenly felt very real.“My eldest remembers hearing the knock at the door from upstairs. She’s always been a light sleeper. She said she heard everyone go into the lounge and the silence that followed felt wrong somehow. Eventually she came downstairs and immediately realised something terrible had happened when she saw familiar faces there.“I honestly can’t remember the exact words that were said to us. I just remember the feeling of sitting there while people talked, and knowing our lives had changed forever. "‌She said it is the "firsts are always hard, passing driving tests, those sort of things"Her children are following in their dad's footsteps, serving and protecting the public. Her son Ben is a fireman, Georgina, a nurse and Chloe is a police officer, who is expecting her first child in six and a half weeks.“This year marks twenty years since we lost him. We’d been married seventeen years when he died. We met when I was eighteen, so I’ve now spent longer without him than I ever spent with him. That’s a very difficult milestone to reach.‌“But I know he would be incredibly proud of our children. Absolutely proud. They’ve all gone into caring and public service roles in different ways... They haven’t fallen far from the tree at all. They’re hardworking, empathetic and committed to helping people, just like their dad was.“As a family, remembrance has always been important to us. We attend commemorations whenever we can because it matters to remember - not just Afghanistan, but Kuwait and Iraq too. Sometimes Iraq gets forgotten because Afghanistan followed so quickly afterwards, but for families like ours those experiences are all deeply connected.“When I think of Darren now, I think about ordinary moments as much as anything else — singing in the car with the children, joking around, making everyone laugh. Those are the memories that stay with us most strongly.”‌National President of the Royal British Legion, Vice Admiral Paul Bennett, said of the commemorations: “Duty in Iraq came at a high cost. During Op TELIC, 179 British Armed Forces personnel lost their lives. Thousands more were wounded, many with life-changing physical injuries. Others experience emotional or mental ill-health as a result of their service.“...The motivations behind the invasion of Iraq, the work to stabilise the country, and the war’s legacy have been debated. In all of this, what is not in dispute is the professionalism and dedication of the British Armed Forces during the operation.”Also at the event on Friday was Nick Spicer, 42, from Bath, was one of the last official British soldiers off the ground in Iraq in 2008. Framed in his office at home is the last flat out of Iraq.‌The Major from the 3rd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment was one of the last men to leave Iraq in July 2009 after handing over his weapons and leaving on a Hercules from Baghdad Airport.“We were supposed to be extracted safely, but a sandstorm put pay to that and we had to stay at an outpost base in Baghdad,” he says.“We were eventually picked up in the middle of the night by an American convoy and driven in darkness to the airport where a Hercules was waiting.”‌Nick grabbed the final British flag flying in Iraq as he left the Middle East.“The company I commanded - Alma Company - had been one of the first British units over the border during the initial invasion of Iraq, and we became the last combat unit out. “First in, last out” became our mantra.”“The company I commanded - Alma Company - had been one of the first British units over the border during the initial invasion of Iraq, and we became the last combat unit out. “First in, last out” became our mantra.”Article continues belowBill Neely has chosen to host the event at the National Memorial Arboretum, the national home for remembrance, who was a correspondent for ITV news during the war. He went to Iraq in 2003 and said he was "apprehensive. Yet excited". He said he was embedded with 42 Commando, Royal Marines. On the first night of the invasion he said, a helicopter went down, killing eight British servicemen.He told how four men from ITN also died in those first days, including his close friend Fred Nerac, whose body was never found. "Those of us who came back were given a gift".