Prince Harry to participate in South Pole trek with wounded military

LONDON, April 20 (UPI) -- Britain's Prince Harry said he will trek across the South Pole with injured military personnel as part of the Walking with the Wounded challenge.

The prince and four British amputees will race to the pole against a U.S. team and a Canadian-Australian team, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Harry, 28, a patron of the organization, met his teammates Friday and joked about the fate of the other teams, saying, "As a member of the British team I will have a brew ready for you when you join us at the South Pole."

The teams will trek 208 miles across the polar terrain in November.

The Telegraph said the prince will be on the trek from the beginning, rather than join the team as he did when Walking With The Wounded trekked across the North Pole in 2011.

Harry honored the "courage, physical strength, endurance and sense of comradeship" shown by the trek's participants, commending them for "a toughness of mind, an unquenchable spirit that refuses to say 'I am beaten.'"

Harry, an Army captain, and other active-duty participants received permission to take time off to compete in the challenge, the Telegraph said.