Family of late Mike McErlain take part in the D-Day Run

The family of a military hero is made an emotional D-Day anniversary pilgrimage to run in the charity race that claimed his life.

On Saturday 6 June, Lt-Col Mike McErlain’s three young children and his wife, Joanna, ran part of the 44-mile course in Normandy that he co-founded.

The brilliant 45-year-old Army surgeon, who operated at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan on several tours of duty, died on the annual D-Day run in 2013 after suffering heart difficulties two miles into the race.

Speaking before the event, Joanna said:

“It will be quite hard for the all of us, particularly for the children who will see where their father fell for the first time.” 

“But, because his spirit lives on, they want to be there. They have said they are excited but a little scared of how they will feel.

“They know they are going for a very special reason and I think it will help them a great deal with their grief.”

The children – sons Paris, 11, Lucius, nine, and ten-year-old daughter Venezia – ran a section of the course he devised, which starts on the cliff tops and runs down across the beaches where tens of thousands of Allied Troops landed in 1944.

The run, which finishes at the iconic Pegasus Bridge, has already raised more than £100,000 for Blesma, The Limbless Veterans.

“It was typical of Mike to do something like that. He saved so many lives out in Afghanistan but he wanted to do more,” added Joanna, an interior designer, of Hindhead, Surrey. “He operated on young guys with appalling injuries, having to perform multiple amputations. He cared deeply about them and it affected him.

“He saved their lives but wanted to do more for them by supporting Blesma and its work in giving people back their lives and independence after the army.”

Joanna was traveling in a support vehicle on the 2012 run when tragedy struck and her 42-year-old property developer brother, Giles Barnes, who co-founded the race, broke the news to her.

Mike, a superfit character, who was an accomplished skier and climber, had undiagnosed ischaemic heart trouble caused by narrowing arteries, an inquest was told. But he had recently passed a stringent army medical to join military exercises in Bolivia.

“It was terrible. Mike was my best friend. I loved him and I feel so sad for my children. They are so young and he was such a great father to them,” she said.

“I don’t want Mike to be forgotten or what he stood for to be forgotten.

“I went back last year and laid down in the field where Mike died to kind of see what he would have seen and as I looked up there were little bees buzzing around and the only other sound was the wind blowing through the crops and I thought Mike died in paradise. It was comforting but so painful.

“It helped me and I think it will help the children to go there.

“Mike worked tirelessly to set the D-Day run up and I want to keep it going for his spirit and memory.  He was great in so many ways and what he believed in shouldn’t be forgotten. He saved lives and he still is because the fundraising is helping support Blesma and buy equipment that can transform lives.”

Lt-Col McErlain, who was based at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia as well as working at the MoD rehabilitation centre at Headley Court. Around 900 people attended his funeral.

To donate, please go to: https://www.justgiving.com/D-DayRun/