By JULIA HORTON Health Reporter

ARCHIE JOHNSTON lived for the Army and now he believes he is dying because of it. The former soldier faces a slow, painful death from Motor Neurone Disease, which he claims he contracted after being given a cocktail of drugs in preparation for the Gulf War.

Today he made an emotional plea for the help he needs to leave the Edinburgh hospice where he lives and spend his final days at home. Like thousands of other Gulf War Veterans, he is fighting the Ministry of Defence for compensation. The drugs he and others were given were supposed to protect them from biological and chemical warfare - instead many believe it triggered MND and other illnesses. But the MoD refuses to acknowledge the link between the treatment and the illnesses, collectively known as Gulf War Syndrome.

Archie’s health is so poor he has to live at St Columba’s Hospice. His wife, Ellen, 44, speaking from the couples’ former home at New Lane, Newhaven, said: "We were childhood sweethearts and we thought we had the rest of our lives together. Now all that has been taken away from us. "We just don’t know how much longer we have got. If we got compensation now, it could pay for 24-hour-a-day care so Archie could come home again. "What we want even more though is an acknowledgement. I want them to admit that they have done this to us."

MND is degenerative, attacking the nervous system. Sufferers rarely survive more than five years after diagnosis. Their bodies crumble, leaving them unable to eat, move, talk or breath properly.Archie's never even served in the Gulf because of a last-minute posting to England.After serving the Army for 23 years, he has now spent another ten years fighting for compensation. Now only 50, but stripped of the ability to walk or talk, he sits in a wheelchair, typing out his side of the conversation on a keyboard. A disjointed American synthesiser that has become his "voice" breaks out: "I am angry. When I was told I had MND, I was devastated. I believe my condition was caused by the drugs I had to take when I was supposed to be going to the Gulf. " It is a horrible condition but little is done for sufferers and few people know much about it. I want to tell people what it is like."

Archie joined the Kings Own Scottish Borders in 1969. After receiving the Gulf War inoculations in 1991, he started a job in Sandhurst. The first signs of the illness - falling over, slurring and a stiffening in his left hand - began soon after, but it was 18 months before doctors at the Western General Hospital diagnosed MND. The Gulf War Veterans Association, which represents the couple, points out that Gulf War Syndrome has been recognised in the United States, but the UK Government has denied its existence.Scottish co-ordinator Bernie McPhillips, 33, said: " Over 500 veterans in the UK, including about 100 in Scotland, have died since returning from the Gulf War and the MoD is still denying all knowledge. It makes us very bitter."

London-based law firm Hodge, Jones and Allen represents 800 Gulf War veterans, including Archie. Senior partner Patrick Allen said: " I don't think there’s going to be an early resolution to this. " I completely understand the frustration and anger of veterans who are getting more ill." A MoD spokesman declined to comment on Archie's case, but said: "We do not recognise what has become known as Gulf War Syndrome."

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