Ramsgate veteran reunited with lost beret on Armistice Day thanks to black cab driver

• ITV News Meridian's Joe Coshan spoke to Paul Jacobs after he was reunited with his beloved beret

A veteran from Ramsgate who lost his beret on the way to a Remembrance Day service, has had it returned to him after an army of black cab drivers went looking for it.

Rifleman Paul Jacobs only noticed his beret was missing when he reached the Cenotaph in Westminster on Remembrance Sunday.

His plea on social media went viral and caught the attention of the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, who mobilised an army of cabbies to scour the capital looking for it.

Paul Jacobs, who served in the 2nd Battalion The Rifles, said: "It's important because it represents the regiment that I'm from and what I stand for and what I've done. But it's what's inside. There's a special silver coin inside behind the cap badge.

"It's two sided. On one side is a kneeling angel, and on the other side is hope. It was given to me by a dear friend called Wendy, who was my schoolteacher when I grew up in Ramsgate.

"She told me that I should go and join the army and do this and do that and I've had that coin with me wherever I've gone, whether it's climbing Everest or Kilimanjaro, walking across Norway, marathons - wherever it maybe, that coin is with me.

"So I was quite distressed yesterday and thank goodness for the Taxi Charity for Miltary Veterans."

The coin first went with Paul on his tour of Afghanistan in 2009, where he was blinded by a bomb and severely injured while trying to save a colleague.

He was awarded the George Medal for his resilience and courage as a dedicated soldier who always acted to serve others.

Out of all the taxi drivers that could come to the rescue, it was cabbie Dave Hemstead, a former Rifleman himself.

The pair were reunited at an Armistice Day event in London, honouring their fallen friends and marked a successful operation over a cup of tea.

Dave said: "I was just out working yesterday taking veterans to and from different Remembrance events and the post come up, so I thought i'd best have a look because he's a Rifleman and I was a Rifleman as well.

"I knew what to look for, I knew it was a green beret so it was just trying to find one out amongst all the foliage on the side of the road and somebody kindly picked it up and put it on a fencepost.

"Paul said he's had it 17 years now and it's looking a bit worn as they do, but it was his beret and that's what he wanted back, especially with that medallion.

"That means the world to him so much so after what he's been through, just to have that, back again is brilliant for him."

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