MIGHTY WARRIOR
Dailyrecord.
Mar 18 2005


Tank driver gets top medal for saving soldiers twice VICTORIA CROSS

By Chris Hughes



PRIVATE Johnson Beharry's outstanding bravery during a rebel Iraqi ambush made him the first to win a Victoria Cross in 23 years.

The 25-year-old soldier received the highest award for gallantry under attack after his Warrior tank was blown up in a hail of rockets.

With his drivers' hatch up, he forced the crippled and burning 30 tonner through a warren of enemy positions, guiding 30 colleagues to safety.

Throughout the sustained attack, the armoured vehicle driver believed his platoon commander and other colleagues may have been dead. But he fought on.

He survived another rocket-propelled grenade attack a month later but ended up in a coma from terrible head wounds, which he is still recovering from.

The last VCs were awarded to two Paratroopers killed in the Falklands. Pte Beharry, originally from Grenada, in the Caribbean, and now living in London, is the first living recipient of a Victoria Cross since 1965.

Last night, Pte Beharry, when asked what went through his mind during the second attack, said: 'RPG.'

He added: 'When I was told yesterday, I thought it was great to have received the award. I was speechless.

'Maybe I was brave, I don't know. I think anyone else could do the same thing.

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

His citation for valour reads: 'Private Beharry carried out two individual acts of great heroism by which he saved the lives of his comrades.

'Both were in direct face of the enemy, under intense fire, at great personal risk to himself - one leading to him sustaining very serious injuries.

'His valour is worthy of the highest recognition.'

On May 1 last year, Pte Beharry joined a convoy re-supplying an isolated outpost in the centre of the flashpoint town of Al Amarah.

As he drove the platoon commander's 30-ton Warrior, it was diverted to fight through vicious enemy fire and rescue a trapped British foot patrol.

At a roundabout, the vehicle was hit by multiple rocket-propelled grenades, engulfing them in a number of violent explosions.

Both the platoon commander and the vehicle's gunner were incapacitated by concussion and other wounds. Others in the rear were wounded.

With a shattered radio, Pte Beharry did not know if his commander or crewmen were still alive.

He calmly closed his driver's hatch and moved forward through the ambush position.

The vehicle was hit again by sustained rocket-propelled grenade attack from rebels and the tank caught fire.

With his periscope destroyed and his hatch blasted open, Pte Beharry was forced, head exposed, to travel through 1500 metres of enemy fire.

Bravely, he led the remaining five Warriors behind him towards safety - even though the tank was again struck by grenades and small arms fire.

Once outside the stricken outpost, he stopped and, under fire, climbed on to the turret of the still-burning vehicle and manhandled his wounded platoon commander out of the turret, off the vehicle and to the safety of a nearby Warrior.

He then returned to his vehicle and lifted the vehicle's gunner to move him to safety.

Again, he braved enemy fire to lead the disorientated and shocked casualties to safety.

Remounting his burning vehicle for the third time, he drove it inside the perimeter of the outpost to safety.

Once everybody was safe, Private Beharry collapsed from the exhaustion of his efforts.

On June 11, Beharry's Warrior was part of a quick-reaction force blitzing an enemy mortar team.

As the lead vehicle of the platoon, he was moving rapidly through the dark city streets when his vehicle was ambushed from rooftop positions.

An RPG detonated just six inches from Beharry's head, resulting in a serious head injury.

Other rockets struck the turret and sides of the vehicle injuring several of the crew.

With the blood from his head injury obscuring his vision, Beharry managed to continue to reverse the Warrior out of the ambush area before losing consciousness.

The citation added: 'Beharry displayed repeated extreme gallantry and unquestioned valour, despite intense direct attacks, personal injury and damage to his vehicle in the face of relentless enemy action.'

Pte Beharry, from the 1st Battalion the Prince of Wales Royal Regiment, married his Grenadian wife Lynthia, 23, three years ago.

She said last night: 'He is very brave and I know he would do it all again.

'He says he's just doing his job. 'When the Sergeant Major told me about the second attack, he said there was a 50 per cent chance of him surviving.

'Johnson is so brave he didn't even tell me he was in the first incident because he didn't want me worrying.'

Yesterday, Pte Beharry met the only other living Victoria Cross holder from his regiment - Lieutenant Colonel Eric Wilson, 92,from Dorset.

He was honoured in 1940 for defending a key position in Somaliland.

Lt Col Wilson said: 'It's going to make a difference to his life, he might even get a few free drinks.

'It's not that much of an exclusive club. There are thousands of us - but most of them are dead.'