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Queen prsents VC to Iraq War hero.


Blackleaf

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From The Daily Mail -

Queen presents VC to Iraq war hero

08:22am 27th April 2005

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Hero: Johnson Beharry

Iraq war hero Johnson Beharry has received Britain's top military honour - the Victoria Cross - and was told by the Queen: "You're very special."

Private Beharry said: "She said that she doesn't get to present the VC very often."

The Queen had just pinned the prestigious award for valour on the 25-year-old soldier's khaki tunic after hearing an account of his extraordinary bravery.

Cheated death

Twice, the young soldier, formerly a painter and decorator, cheated death to save his colleagues and was left in a coma with serious head wounds.

"When I hear what I did, I can't really believe it was me," he said at the Buckingham Palace investiture.

"But what I did was my choice - I knew I had to get everyone out because I wouldn't have been able to live with myself otherwise.

"I think it's the training that just kicks in."

Pte Beharry, of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, outranked Britain's top soldier, General Sir Michael Jackson, for the day.

The junior soldier's investiture took precedence to the General's who was knighted, receiving the honour of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.

Pte Beharry is the first recipient of the Victoria Cross since the 1982 Falklands War.

He was struck by a bullet as he guided a Warrior armoured convoy through the flashpoint town of Al-Amarah last May.

A month later, he saved more lives during a second ferocious fire fight and suffered serious head injuries when a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) exploded in his face.

Still recovering from his wounds and bearing a scar across his forehead, he said: "I know I'm lucky to be alive.

"Every day in Iraq, when I went out on patrol, I thought I wouldn't be coming back - then at the end of the day I thought, 'That was a lucky one'."

Pte Beharry, from Tidworth, Hampshire, becomes the first living recipient of a VC since 1965.

It is the first VC awarded since Lieutenant Colonel H Jones and Sergeant Ian McKay received posthumous awards after the Falklands War against Argentina.

Born on the Caribbean island of Grenada, he joins only 13 other living holders of the prestigious medal.

Still receiving treatment

Of the future, Pte Beharry said: "I'm still receiving treatment for my injuries - I'm getting physio and seeing specialists - so I'm limited in what I can do.

"I hope to return to service but I don't know when that will be and I would go back to Iraq if I had to."

Accompanied to the Palace by his wife, Lynthia, and his Aunt Irene and Uncle Raymond, he said that celebrations had been put on hold during his medical recovery.

"There's too much happening at the moment," he said. "I never dreamt this would happen to me - I never thought I'd meet so many important people."

dailymail.co.uk

Edited by Blackleaf
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