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LANCE CORPORAL JOSH LEAKEY VC
A British soldier who single-handedly turned the tide of battle and prevented considerable loss of life during an assault into a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan was awarded the Victoria Cross on
26 February.
He is the first living soldier* awarded the VC for action in Afghanistan – and the second soldier in his family to receive the military’s highest bravery honour.
Lance Corporal Josh Leakey, aged 27, of The Parachute Regiment, was deployed in Afghanistan as a member of a task force conducting operations to disrupt insurgent safe-havens and protect the main operating base in Helmand Province on 22 August 2013 when, on a combined UK/US assault led by the US Marine Corps to disrupt a key insurgent group that the force, having dismounted from their helicopters, came under accurate machine gun and rocket propelled grenade fire.
The command group became pinned down on the exposed forward slope of a hill and, after at-tempted to extract themselves from their position for an hour, a Marine Corps captain was shot and wounded and the group’s communications put out of action.
“On this day, things just felt different,” Lance Corporal Leakey said.
“The enemy were more determined, even when air support was around, they stood and they fought, which was fairly uncommon.
“Thoughts going through my mind on that day were, “let’s do this right”.
“There’s a man wounded, we need to get this guy sorted, and also stop more people getting wounded.”
Lance Corporal Leakey, positioned on the lee of the hill, realising the seriousness of the situation and with complete disregard for his own safety, dashed across a large area of barren hillside, which was then being raked with machine gun fire.
The full severity of the situation became apparent as Lance Corporal Leakey reached the top of the hill. Approximately 20 enemy had surrounded two friendly machine-gun teams and a mortar section rendering the fire support ineffective.
Lance Corporal Leakey moved down the forward slope of the hill and gave first aid to the wounded officer and, despite being the most junior commander in the area, took control of the situation and initiated the casualty evacuation.
Then, still under enemy fire, he set off up the hill to get one of the suppressed machine guns back into action.
On reaching it and with rounds impacting on the frame of the gun itself, he moved it to another po-sition and began engaging the enemy.
“Everyone was under fire,” he said. “It wasn’t just me.
“But, we needed to be the ones giving effective fire, instead of the ones on the receiving end.
“That’s why the guns had to be re-sited and realigned onto the enemy.
“We had to take the fight to the enemy because they were dominating the area and our freedom of movement was being denied.
“We needed to swing the tide back in our favour.”
His citation states: “This courageous action spurred those around him back into the fight. For the third time and with full knowledge of the dangers, Lance Corporal Leakey exposed himself to enemy fire once more. Weighted down with more than 60lbs of equipment, he ran to the bottom of the hill, picked up the second machine gun and climbed back up the hill, around 200 metres of steep terrain. Rounds were hitting the ground around him. But, despite the danger, Josh re-sited the gun and returned fire. This was the turning point as, inspired by his actions and with a heavy weight of fire now at their disposal, the force began to fight back with renewed ferocity.”
Having regained the initiative, Lance Corporal Leakey handed over the machine gun and led the extraction of the wounded officer to a point from which he could be safely evacuated.
“My goals on that day were very simple, as were everyones,” he said.
“When it became clear there was a casualty, our mission changed slightly so we had to deal with the casualty and we had to suppress the enemy.
“I like to think we did a pretty good job of looking after the casualty and of suppressing the enemy.”
Lance Corporal Leakey’s citation goes on, “Displaying gritty leadership well above that expected of his rank, Lance Corporal Leakey’s actions single-handedly regained the initiative and prevented considerable loss of life, allowing a wounded US Marine officer to be evacuated. For this act of valour, Lance Corporal Leakey is highly deserving of significant national recognition.”
The head of the Army broke the news to Lance Corporal Leakey, who was told by General Sir Nick Carter to ‘take a seat, I’ve got something to tell you’.
Josh says, “I’m still stunned, absolutely stunned really, that they’ve given it to me. It’s going to take a while for it to sink in”.
“If it was up to me there’d be many other people sitting here with me doing this as well.
“There are so many people out there deserving, from my battalion, my regiment, from Afghan; there are so many of us who’ve done things. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, really.
“You don’t do anything in the Army on your own. It’s not normal being singled out; you feel un-comfortable, because everything you do is a team effort really, in my opinion. And that day was no different.
“I like to think that on that day we gave a good account of ourselves, you know, fellow paratroopers cutting around the green zone doing what we do best, taking the fight to the enemy.”
The Victoria Cross is the highest award for gallantry, awarded to all ranks of the services and civilians for gallantry in the presence of the enemy.
It may be awarded posthumously. Two other VCs have been awarded to British soldiers for actions in Afghanistan – Corporal Bryan Budd, also of The Parachute Regiment, who was killed in action on 20 August 2006 and Lance Corporal James Ashworth, Grenadier Guards, KIA 13 June 2012.
Lance Corporal Leakey’s second cousin twice removed, Sergeant Nigel Gray Leakey, posthu-mously won the Victoria Cross for single-handedly taking on an Italian tank attack in Africa in May 1945.
Words Contact Magazine
