For many of us civilians, the Iraq is a distant memory of the early 2000s – something that happened long ago, in one of those countries faraway. But for the veterans, especially those who bear the scars, it’s a reality that they relive everyday.

Back in 2006, Simon Brown was doing his third tour of Iraq, during which one of his missions was to extract a stranded crew. Just after completing his task, he was shot in the face by a sniper.

Brown spent 17 days in a coma, after which he woke up to the reality that his face had been permanently disfigured. The cartilage in his nose had been destroyed, and he’d lost his left eye, while he was left partially blind in the other. He was left undergoing dozens of reconstructive operations and countless hours in surgery.

Despite everything that he’s been through, he has always remained determined to help others, in fact, he has put everything into rebuilding his life around the service of others. He regularly shares his experiences, and give motivational talks in schools, as well as volunteering with organizations such as Help for Heros – an organization which supports members of the British Armed Forces who sustained injuries and illnesses during their service.

The other portion to this story is Temperance Pattinson, a little girl who grew up fascinated by soldiers who are war heroes. Temperance, or Tempy as she’s nicknamed, is an astonishing young lady who likes to support veterans by participating in such events as charity mini-triathlons.

Her life long dream was to meet a real-life soldier, and thanks to the Help for Heroes’ Facing It Together campaign, she finally got her wish. She and Simon got to meet. At first he was a little unsure of how she might react to his scars, but as you’ll see in the clip below, some unlikely pairings are just completely heart-warming.