Sheffield dad's anger over US vice president 'insult' to his Owls fan soldier son, killed in Iraq

Bill Stewardson, from Woodhouse Mill, Sheffield, lost his son, Kingsman Alex Green, in January 2007, when the 21-year-old was fatally shot when escorting a convoy in Basra.

Sheffield Wednesday fan Alex had been serving with the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.

Now Bill is furious with comments made by the American vice president JD Vance after he said a US stake in Ukraine's economy was a "better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years", after the UK and France said they would be willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peace deal.

Bill told The Star: “As the volley of rifle shots cracked the air at the military funeral of my 21-year-old son in 2007, it never occurred to me that he died on behalf of some random country that hadn’t fought a war in 40 odd years.

“Must be me eh? I demand an apology on his behalf.”

Vance has since insisted he did not "even mention the UK or France", adding that both had "fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond".

But Bill feels everyone knows what Vance was saying.

He said: “It’s the most insensitive and insulting thing I’ve heard since I attended my son’s funeral 18 years ago.

“I will not allow comments like that to go unanswered and I won’t be satisfied until he stands in front of a camera and does what any honest man with any moral fibre would do, and apologises.”

Alex lived in Warrington, but was regularly in Sheffield with his dad, and watched the Owls with his father when he came to the city.

Alex was among 179 British service personnel who died in Iraq,

Mr Stewardson has previously campaigned for bereaved families of service personnel to be given compassionate leave by employers if they die in service.

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