Tributes To Yorkshire Soldier

11 September 2012, 10:34 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Tributes have been paid to a ''superb'' soldier from Doncaster who was killed in Afghanistan.

32 year old Sergeant Lee Paul Davidson, died on Sunday after his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb while patrolling with the Afghan Uniformed Police in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province.

Paying tribute to her husband, Samantha Davidson, mother to his sons Jayden and Jamie and pregnant with his daughter, said: ''My gorgeous husband Lee, we all can't believe you have gone.

''You are my best friend, lover and the best husband and father I could have ever have wished for.

''Your memories we had together will be treasured in my mind and heart forever, your children will grow up knowing all this about you.''

The sergeant's death brings to 427 the number of members of UK forces to have died since operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001. He served with the Light Dragoons.

Light Dragoons commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Sam Plant, paid tribute to Sgt Davidson, who had also served in Bosnia and Iraq, saying: ''Sgt Davidson will be remembered as a simply superb soldier and a wonderful man.

''From the outset of training for this, his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, he demonstrated the sort of professionalism and determination that had long been his trademark.

''He was the most natural leader of men and soldiers flourished under his command - he set the perfect tone and example and cared deeply for his soldiers' welfare.

''Rarely to be seen without a broad smile on his face, his enormous popularity was borne out of deep respect and his unbreakable sense of fun. Utterly loyal and ferociously hard-working, he was, and always will be, an inspiration to so many.''