Britain’s highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross, was recently presented to Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey for his heroic actions in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan.
There have been only three crosses awarded for the Afghan Campaign, with Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey, 27, from Hampshire being the only living recipient. Three generations of Cpl Leakey’s family were able to attend, including his grandfather who served in the Royal Navy, and his father, who served in the Royal Air Force.
Army UK writes:
Lance Corporal Josh 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 anyone of them could be standing where I am today."
Cpl. Leakey was deployed from May to December of 2013 with the 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment whose mission was to "disrupt insurgent safe-havens and protect the main operating base in Helmand province."
On the night of August 22nd, a joint force of United States and British soldiers were ambushed by insurgents with Cpl. Leakey single-handedly turning the tide of the battle.
Their forces were immediately attacked by machine guns and rocket propelled grenades as they exited their Chinooks - the command group being pinned down and exposed. The Marine Captain in charge was shot after an hour spent trying to extract from the killing zone, and their communications were out.
That’s when Lance Corporal Leakey, with total disregard for his own safety, dashed across the killing zone on the hillside where the seriousness of the situation became evident. Two friendly machine gun teams and a mortar support section had been surrounded by over twenty enemy combatants.
This didn’t stop Cpl. Leakey from giving first-aid to the wounded officer and initiating the casualty evacuation.
Realizing the enemy was still in control, he set off back up the hill, still under enemy fire, to regain one of the suppressed machine guns. Upon reaching it, and with rounds impacting the frame of the gun itself, he moved it to another position and began engaging the enemy.
His comrades, now with some breathing room, began to fight back with renewed vigor. Cpl. Leakey then, for the third time, exposed himself to enemy fire, ran down the hill to retrieve the other machine gun, and ran back up the hill to set up and engage the enemy. A total of eleven insurgents were killed and four were wounded, while Leakey's actions saved the lives of many of his fellow soldiers.
Lance Corporal Leakey said that he had been “reasonably aware” of the bullets landing all around him, “but you focus on the job at hand”. He said: “If you spent your whole life wondering what was going to happen, what could happen to you, then you wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning, you wouldn’t get anything done.”
Lance Corporal Leakey insisted the award belongs to everyone in his regiment.