Brit soldier honoured in Vegas hell

A BRITISH soldier who rushed to help victims of the Las Vegas massacre has been decorated in the latest round of military honours.

Trooper Ross Woodward, from 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards, has received the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery – something he said has come as a total surprise.

Ross, 24, was enjoying an offduty trip to the US gambling capital after a desert training exercise in Nevada when gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on a music festival, killing 59 and wounding nearly 500 people.

Ross, from Beeston, Notts, ran towards the carnage and guided terrified festival-goers to safety after tending the injured and comforting the dying.

“Anyone in the military would have done the same,” he said.

“To me it just felt like the right thing to do, because people were there and needed my help, I just did not want to walk away and leave them.

“If I ever need help, I hope and pray that someone would help me.”

Chaos

Just weeks before the regiment deployed on the training exercise, Trooper Woodward said they had undertaken a team medic course, which meant the skills were fresh in his mind.

Ross, dad to 11-week-old son Arlo, said there were people screaming, shouting, looking for loved ones and it was “a lot of chaos”.

The first casualty he treated was a man shot in the back.

Trooper Woodward said: “I tried to reassure him that I wasn’t going to leave him.

“He thought I was going to go. I promised I wasn’t going to go anywhere.

“I stayed by him, and a few moments passed and there was no response from him – I found out that he had passed away.”

Five of Ross’s comrades also helped in the wake of the shooting in October last year.

His award citation states he “displayed conspicuous bravery, outstanding leadership and unwavering selflessness”.