Veteran soldier Alex Rowe awarded Légion d'honneur after fighting Taliban in Afghanistan

Alex Rowe was rejected by the British army in 1987. He later joined the French Foreign Legion. Photograph: SWNS

A soldier who joined the French Foreign Legion after he was rejected by the British army on medical grounds is in line to be received into the Légion d'honneur for his bravery.

Alex Rowe, from Gloucestershire, was turned away by British recruiters as a teenager because he had a detached retina but, determined to follow a military career he signed up for the Légion étrangère ,which accepts troops from any country.

Now 43, Rowe has served in the Gulf, the former Yugoslavia and has just returned from Afghanistan, where he earned his award after fierce fighting against the Taliban.

His mother, Jennifer, from Rodborough, near Stroud, revealed that Rowe is to be received into the Légion d'honneur, the order established by Napoleon to recognise extraordinary service by military personnel and civilians.

"I'm incredibly proud of Alex, as I am of all my sons. He was devastated when he was told he wouldn't be allowed to join the army. It was his lifelong ambition and suddenly it was taken away from him.

"He spent two years thinking about joining the French Foreign Legion and joined with my blessing at 20. He absolutely loves it and does what he was born to do. He's incredibly brave, so much so that he can probably be considered bordering on stupid."

Rowe, whose twin brother Mark serves with the Royal Engineers, quickly rose through the ranks despite not initially speaking a word of French.

"I learned French the hard way," he once said. "I could ask for a campsite and a hotel but it wasn't much use. Every time I spoke English or made a mistake in French, I got a thick ear."

Recruits to the French foreign legion, which was formed in 1831, endure a gruelling 30 days of training at the legion's "farm" in the Pyrenees.

Despite his history of visual problems, Rowe was first made a sniper and was known as a top marksman.

He was previously awarded for bravery while serving in Sarajevo after braving sniper fire to run across a city plaza and shield a mother and daughter from a hail of bullets. In all, his mother said he had already received four awards for bravery.

In Afghanistan he has been fighting alongside Britons, dozens of Russians, and others from as far as Algeria and China. He was involved in a gunbattle recently in which 10 comrades were gunned down.

"We got hit from 360 degrees," Rowe said. "Two of the Americans we were with were hit by bullets – one in the back plate, two bullets in the helmet and one in the hand."

Rowe - whose other brother Jeremy, 34, is a merchant banker in London - recently returned home to Nimes, France, where he lives with Elyzabeth and son Brandon, 16 and step-daughter Jessica, 17.

His family are set to visit France in the summer to watch as Rowe becomes a member of the Légion d'honneur.

Steven Morris