Off duty courage leads to deserved honours
They joined to serve Queen and country. But for two members of the Armed Forces, it was not the heat of battle that saw them act beyond the call of duty but a combination of steely grit and training in the most unexpected circumstances that has seen them singled out for gallantry awards, writes MARCO GIANNANGELI
TROOPER Ross Woodward had been looking forward to his three-day break. It had been a tough few weeks on Red Flag, a big live-firing exercise in Nevada with US forces, and spirits among the 1st Queen’s Dragoon Guards were high at the thought of spending a few nights in Las Vegas.
But what Ross didn’t know, as he left the Excalibur Hotel & Casino in October last year, was that 64-year-old real estate agent Stephen Paddock was preparing to commit the biggest mass shooting by a single gunman in US history.
Within minutes, 23-year-old Ross found himself leading panicstricken casino-goers to safety and battling desperately to save some of the 470 victims killed or injured as Paddock opened fire from a nearby hotel.
Speaking last night, Ross, who joined the Army just three-and-a-half years ago, said: “I heard what I thought were fireworks. I knew there was a big country music festival on so when one of the lads said it was gunfire, I told him not to be silly.”
But the sight of panicking people running towards the off-duty soldiers soon told its own story.
“They were all terrified. We were in the middle of a corridor and when I saw the door to a bar, I went for it. I was followed by about 10 people and, as we didn’t know where the gunman was, we used big plant pots to block the door. I tried to reassure everyone and agreed to lead them away from the hotel. People then went their own ways as they made it out and that was when I saw there had been a lot of casualties.
“I saw a man on the floor with a strange expression on his face. He was American, in his mid-40s. I told him I was with the British Army. He said he had pain in his lower back and begged me not to leave him. He’d been shot. I promised I wouldn’t and someone handed me a bandage and I used it to keep the pressure on.
“A minute went by and I realised that he’d passed away...”
Just three weeks earlier Ross had undergone intensive combat medical training and he began to look for other victims.
“I wasn’t sure where the gunman was but I needed to see if anyone else was hurt. I wasn’t thinking about it – it was automatic, part of my training.
“I tried to reassure people as I looked for other casualties and I came across a man who had been shot in the left buttock. By now, people with pickups had come to help ferry casualties away. The police and ambulance services were totally overwhelmed.
“Then I saw another man who told me his wife, who had been a wheelchair user, had been shot in the back. I went to her. She was in her 30s and in shock – it was difficult for her to let me help her but when she leaned forward in
‘I didn’t know where the gunman was but I had to help people’
pain I applied pressure until help arrived.” Though the shooting spree lasted just 10 minutes, the trooper spent six hours helping the casualties.
On Friday, humble Ross, from Beeston, Nottinghamshire, learnt he is to be awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery. He said: “I’m glad I could help people, my training kicked in.”
Meanwhile, Flight Lieutenant Alex Eveson, 33, had been in the Caribbean when he was plunged into action.
The call to scramble came at 1am, following days of tough missions in September 2017. A seven-month-old baby girl was suffering breathing difficulties and needed to be rescued.
The bleary-eyed Chinook captain had already spent five long days with his crew using the helicopter to transport vital supplies to the British overseas territories of Turks and Caicos Islands and Montserrat, as the Caribbean was hit by the two most powerful hurricanes on record, Irma and Maria.
His actions saved the baby’s life but his ordeal was terrifying.
Alex, a 12-year veteran, had been forced to break strict flying hour limits before but that was amid combat operations in Afghanistan. Operation Ruman, however, which saw 2,000 members of the Armed Forces deployed to give aid, wasn’t war. The baby was on the island of Dominica, 200 miles away and not even a British Overseas Territory. But her life was hanging by a thread. And his was the only helicopter available.
Within the hour, Alex, of 27 RAF Squadron, was battling terrible conditions. Forced to fly low to avoid the worst of the cloud cover, the helicopter was battered by high winds and pelting rain, in skies so dark even night vision goggles didn’t help. His three crewmates and two medics put their lives in Alex’s hands as he pressed on.
Speaking from his home in Hampshire last night, Alex recalled: “We knew the weather was going to be bad but we didn’t know just how bad.
“It soon became a case of either turning back and chalking it up as a failed mission or punching through, and I decided to go for it. I’ll admit it was pretty frightening, especially as I had the welfare of the crew and aircraft to consider. We’d been given co-ordinates on Montserrat and told to take the baby to Martinique but all the satellite imagery we had was pre-hurricane and it was completely different when we got to Montserrat.”
Landing was also a nightmare, as they were given a clearing in the middle of a fishing village just large enough to cope with the 100ft craft.
“In the UK a site like that would be an absolute no-go: fallen power cables and trees, and destruction all around, and we worried that the rotor blades would send debris flying and injure someone. But we made it and, three hours later, the baby was in hospital in Martinique. We were very relieved and I understand she survived, which is wonderful.
“In an ideal world we’d spend all our time saving lives in humanitarian missions instead of combat ops.”
Alex, who receives the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service, said: “I’m very proud but, really, this isn’t just for me, it’s for my crew, engineers and enablers at RAF Odiham.”