A North Yorkshire soldier blown up in Afghanistan has returned home and relived the moment a bomb killed his comrade and left him seriously hurt.

Lance Corporal James Grundy, of the Royal Engineers, suffered two broken cheekbones and a broken upper jaw and needed metal plates fitted in his face, after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) destroyed his vehicle.

He was travelling as part of a convoy with three members of the Ripon-based 21 Regiment when the IED exploded near their seven-tonne Panther armed vehicle.

Speaking to The Press from his North Yorkshire home, L Cpl Grundy, 25, said: “We were on our way to Lashkar Gah to help out with construction of a new camp. One minute we were chatting to pass the time, then the device exploded and I didn’t know what had happened.”

The explosion from the IED buckled the vehicle’s doors and killed the driver, Sapper Darren Roy. L Cpl Grundy, who remained conscious throughout, said: “I could feel my mouth was full of blood, and I realised what had happened. There was a second where I just thought ‘What the hell was that’, but then training kicked in and took over.

“I started checking myself for further injuries, and then climbed through the roof of the vehicle.”

“It all happened in slow motion. It took a few seconds to realise what had happened and then it was check for injuries and get out of there.”

L Cpl Grundy was transported back to Camp Bastion, where his older brother Peter, who is a captain in the Regiment, met him in the infirmary before he was flown to Selly Oak Hospital, in Birmingham.

Doctors there fixed metal plates in his cheeks and wired his jaw.

He said: “At the minute I’m on sick leave and have to check in with the hospital once a week.

“The swelling has gone down a lot, but I feel really bunged up, because my sinuses were damaged.

“I still have a few bruises and cuts which required stitches, but nothing which will leave a major scar. It has put life into perspective.”

While James and Darren were airlifted back to camp, the other two troops waited by the bomb-damaged vehicle for seven hours until it was recovered.

L Cpl Grundy said: “I’ve been on the phone with one of the lads who was in the back seat. He is back in the UK on leave, and told me they waited for seven hours for the vehicle to get recovered, before going on with the job.”

Like his two brothers, Peter and Paul, L Cpl Grundy joined the Regiment at 16. His father was also in the army, and was waiting for his son when he arrived in Birmingham.

L Cpl Grundy said: “My parents and girlfriend Lisa were waiting at the hospital for me when I arrived. The first feeling was relief when we saw each other.

“Obviously I knew it was a risk when I signed up. You don’t think about it, you just see what happens.”