THE family and friends of a Mudeford-born soldier who was killed in action have managed to bring his dog back from Afghanistan.

Private Conrad Lewis from the Parachute Regiment adopted Pegasus, or Peg – despite orders to shoot strays.

He fed Peg with his own rations and they became inseparable.

During contacts with the Taliban, Peg would sit down when the men took cover and stand up as they moved off and she stayed by Conrad’s side through a nine-hour firefight.

When the 22-year-old was shot dead on patrol in February, the official picture released by the Ministry of Defence was of Conrad together with Peg.

His family, from Claverdon in Warwickshire, got help from an animal charity in Afghanistan and Conrad’s fellow soldiers and they managed to track Peg down.

The troops are strictly ordered to leave pets behind – but his friends smuggled Peg in a bag to Kabul, with help from the local police and the charity managed to fly her on a commercial jet to the UK.

Peg is now back in kennels waiting for the quarantine to run out in December.

His sister Siobhan said: “She’s so lovely and you can see she wants to come out.

“But it won’t be long now. She is the link to Conrad in Afghanistan and we’ve made his wish come true.”

Conrad was born in Boscombe Hospital in 1988 and his family lived in Mudeford and then in Christchurch, near the old Tucktonia model village on Stour Road, until he was five.

His mother Sandra worked at Plessey, which became Siemens Christchurch.

Before deploying, he spent both the final weekend with his family, and then his final weekend away with his friends, visiting Bournemouth and Christchurch.