Lance Corporal Joshua Mark Leakey of the Parachute Regiment will pick up a Victoria Cross (Picture: PA)
Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey showed ‘complete disregard’ for his own safety as his group came under attack from around 20 insurgents armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades.
First he ran to the top of a barren hill and, with the ‘snap and crack’ of enemy fire all around him, realised that two friendly machine gun teams had been surrounded.
Despite being the most junior member of the group he took control of the situation, giving first aid to a wounded US Marine Corps captain and beginning casualty evacuation.
His heroism in Afghanistan was astounding (Picture: PA)
He managed to hold off 20 insurgents armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades – here he is pictured with Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nicholas Carter (Picture: PA)
He then went back up the hill and took control of one of the machine guns, with bullets ricocheting off its frame, before running down again, drawing enemy fire and helping regain the initiative.
During the battle, 11 insurgents were killed and four wounded.
Lt/Cpl said: ‘I’m lucky – I’m here, I’ve got all my limbs, my health, I’ve got my friends and my family.
‘This award is brilliant, but it’s also something I’m accepting on behalf of my regiment and my battalion, of which I’m so proud.’
He is the second person in his family to receive the Victoria Cross (Picture: PA)
He received his medal for the role he played during the combined UK/US assault on a Taliban stronghold in Bar Now Zad, Helmand province, on August 22, 2013.
It turns out that 70 years ago another member of his family was awarded the Victoria Cross.
His second cousin twice removed, Sergeant Nigel Gray Leakey, was a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross in November 1945 for his gallantry while fighting in Africa during the Second World War.
L/Cpl Leakey, from Hampshire, is only the 15th serviceman to receive the VC since the Second World War.
He is also the third serviceman to receive the VC for service in Afghanistan and the only one not to receive it posthumously.
He said: ‘It’s something I’m accepting on behalf of my regiment and my battalion, of which I’m so proud (Picture: PA)
L/Cpl Leakey will receive his medal at a later date during an investiture ceremony.
He is the first British serviceman to receive the honour while still alive since Lance Sergeant Johnson Beharry, of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, was decorated in 2005 for saving the lives of comrades during two ambushes in Iraq.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: ‘It is absolutely right that Lance Corporal Leakey has been awarded a Victoria Cross.
‘He epitomised valour with his actions on that hillside in Helmand.
‘When you hear how events unfolded and the intensity of enemy fire, it is difficult to imagine how one wouldn’t be frozen to the spot and yet Lance Corporal Leakey risked his life to run across that barren hillside not just once, but multiple times, to turn the battle and save the lives of comrades.
‘And that is why he deserves the highest honour for bravery the nation can give.’
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