I don’t give these out very of ten! Queen pins the VC on hero of Taliban firefights
Para braved hail of bullets to save wounded comrade
A PARATROOPER who braved heavy taliban fire to rescue a wounded comrade received the Victoria Cross from the Queen yesterday.
She told Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey: ‘I don’t get to give this one out very often. Did you ever imagine you’d be standing here? Well done.’
But in fact the 27-year-old is the second member of his family to receive the highest military decoration for valour – a cousin was given the honour 70 years ago.
L/Cpl Leakey is only the sixth living British soldier the Queen has presented with his medal. He was invested in a ceremony at Windsor Castle.
L/Cpl Leakey, of 1 Para, is the third British serviceman to receive the VC for bravery during the Afghanistan campaign but the other two awards were made posthumously. In 2013, he braved heavy gunfire from 20 taliban insurgents in Helmand to rush to the aid of a wounded US Marine.
He also took control of a machine gun post to begin the fight back, then ran down a barren hillside, dodging a hail of bullets, picked up another machine gun and continued the battle in which 11 insurgents were killed and four wounded.
According to the official citation, L/Cpl Leakey, who is single and from Hampshire, showed ‘complete disregard for his own safety’ as his unit came under attack for around an hour. It added: ‘Displaying
‘Very proud and happy’
gritty leadership well above that expected of his rank, Lance Corporal Leakey’s actions single-handedly regained the initiative and prevented considerable loss of life, allowing a wounded officer to be evacuated.’
Speaking after the investiture, L/Cpl Leakey said: ‘It’s such a great honour and massively humbling to be put among all those people who have received the VC in the past. My family are very proud and happy but the lads in the battalion know this isn’t something you seek out.
‘You just do what you deem necessary on the day and any one of them could be standing where I am today.
‘It’s great for my family, my friends, my regiment – but it does for me highlight the sacrifice everyone’s made in Afghan, not just in terms of the loss of life and limbs but people going away for months on end.’
His parents, rosemary and Mark Leakey, who saw him receive his medal from the Queen, said: ‘It’s been a very emotional, a very moving occasion. We’re j ust so delighted that Josh is here in one piece to receive the honour with his family and all the Paras, especially when you hear that so many VCs are awarded posthumously.
‘We were particularly pleased his grandparents were able to be here too – three generations together and representing all three services: royal Navy with his grandfather, rAF father and Josh the Army.’ the wounded US Marine who L/Cpl Leakey rescued described how the Para ran through a hail of machine gunfire to save him.
Captain Brandon Bocian said: ‘I hadn’t met L/Cpl Leakey prior to that day but am grateful for his actions. the fact that he chose to leave his position to help me speaks of his courage and character. I am happy to hear that he is being formally recognised.’
L/Cpl Leakey’s distant cousin Sergeant Nigel Gray Leakey received the VC posthumously for his gallantry in an attack on Italian tanks in east Africa in 1941.
the 28-year-old, who was serving in the King’s African rifles, leapt on a tank, wrenched open the turret and shot dead the crew but was killed trying to repeat the feat on another tank.
Born in Kenya, he was the son of Arundell Gray Leakey – a cousin of Louis Leakey, the prominent Kenyan archaeologist.