Soldier awarded VC for bravery in Iraq
2005-03-18 10:18:51
A soldier who single-handedly saved 30 colleagues as he guided them through an ambush in Iraq has been awarded the Victoria Cross.
Private Johnson Beharry is the first living recipient of the highest award for gallantry since 1965.
The 25-year-old was struck by a bullet as he guided a Warrior armoured convoy through the flashpoint town of Al Amarah last May.
A month later, the young soldier saved more lives in a second ferocious exchange and suffered serious head wounds in a rocket-propelled grenade assault that left him in a coma.
Private Beharry, who is still recovering from his injuries and bears a scar across his skull, said: "Maybe I was brave, I don't know. I think anyone else could do the same thing."
Adding: "At the time I was just doing the job, I didn't have time for other thoughts. I want to return to service, but I don't know when that will be and I would go back to Iraq if I had to."
It is the first Victoria Cross awarded since Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Jones and Sergeant Ian John McKay received posthumous awards after the Falklands War.
Private Beharry was among more than 140 servicemen and women to be honoured in the latest operational honours list for service in Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, Liberia, the Congo and Sierra Leone.
2005-03-18 10:18:51
A soldier who single-handedly saved 30 colleagues as he guided them through an ambush in Iraq has been awarded the Victoria Cross.
Private Johnson Beharry is the first living recipient of the highest award for gallantry since 1965.
The 25-year-old was struck by a bullet as he guided a Warrior armoured convoy through the flashpoint town of Al Amarah last May.
A month later, the young soldier saved more lives in a second ferocious exchange and suffered serious head wounds in a rocket-propelled grenade assault that left him in a coma.
Private Beharry, who is still recovering from his injuries and bears a scar across his skull, said: "Maybe I was brave, I don't know. I think anyone else could do the same thing."
Adding: "At the time I was just doing the job, I didn't have time for other thoughts. I want to return to service, but I don't know when that will be and I would go back to Iraq if I had to."
It is the first Victoria Cross awarded since Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Jones and Sergeant Ian John McKay received posthumous awards after the Falklands War.
Private Beharry was among more than 140 servicemen and women to be honoured in the latest operational honours list for service in Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, Liberia, the Congo and Sierra Leone.
