27/04/2005

Iraq war hero receives VC from the Queen

Private Johnson Beharry has received the Victoria Cross from the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Pte Beharry, 25, was the first recipient of the award – the highest commendation for the British and Commonwealth military – since 1982.

The Queen told Pte Beharry that he was “very special” at the ceremony.

Pte Beharry told reporters that the Queen said she "doesn’t get to present the VC very often”.

Pte Beharry received the award for two acts of “outstanding gallantry of the highest order” while serving in Iraq last year.

In the first incident, in May, he saved the lives of several colleagues caught in an ambush. Pte Beharry had been driving the lead armoured car in a convoy called to the assistance of a foot patrol caught in a series of ambushes, when it come under fire, injuring a number of soldiers. Pte Beharry drove through the ambush, taking his crew and leading the other vehicles to safety.

The following month, on June 11, Pte Beharry’s vehicle was again involved in an ambush, during which several of his crew where injured. He managed once again to drive out of the ambush area in spite of suffering serious head injuries in the attack, from which he is still recovering.

Pte Beharry, who was born in Grenada, serves in the 1st Battalion of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.

(KMcA/SP)

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