THE grieving father of a Gulf War veteran who died from a rare form of cancer is demanding the truth about his son's death.

Mark Hyde served in the front line during the entire conflict and was just 30 when he died. Speaking on the tenth anniversary of the conflict, his father, Colin, told the Daily Echo: "Ten years down the line I think we have the right to know what happened."

Tests are set to be carried out on British veterans who served in the Balkans and the Gulf War, following concerns over the health effects of depleted uranium shells.

They were used extensively during Operation Desert Storm, when Iraqi troops were driven out of Kuwait following Saddam Hussein's invasion.

Mark, a Navy engineer, served on board the destroyer HMS Manchester during the war and was also based in the Adriatic during the Bosnia crisis five years later.

British Navy ships still use uranium- tipped shells, but health risks have been ruled out by Ministry of Defence chiefs.

They have also denied any evidence of Gulf War syndrome.

But Colin, 55, and wife Janet, 54, from Hedge End, made sure a full post-mortem was carried out on their son in case more facts came to light in the future.

Colin, a sales director, said: "My main concern is whether a proper investigation has ever been done into the strange deaths that have occurred since the Gulf War.

"The cancer that Mark had is normally found in much older people.

"The uranium-shells issue has been in the news, but there are other issues as well. People in the front line had to have inoculations against nuclear chemical warfare.

"Did that maniac (Saddam Hussein) send stuff into the atmosphere that we don't know about, or did we, even?"

Mark quit the Navy in 1997 to spend more time with his family including wife Kate, 29, and their three-year-old son Sam at their home in Shirley, Southampton.

He died in November last year just months after being diagnosed with a Sarcoma tumour.

The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association and The Royal British Legion have called for a public inquiry into Gulf War syndrome.

Association chairman Shaun Rusling said the government was wrong for not admitting problems were occurring.

"There has been a tremendous amount of young men dying from chemically induced leukaemias and cancers since the Gulf War.

"What we have now is an unfolding tragedy and it needs a public inquiry."

However, an MoD spokesman said: "No-one has come up with any evidence to suggest that people are getting ill because they served in the Gulf War, but we do retain an open mind on the issue.

"There has been claims that Gulf War veterans are dying at a greater rate than others but statistics show that is not the case."

He ruled out a public inquiry being held.

Doctors told Mark's family the Synovilial Sarcoma that killed Mark is normally found in elderly people.

Dr Peter Simmonds, consultant medical oncologist at the Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton, where Mark stayed, said the cause of them was not known.