Comrades in hail of bullets tried to save Yorkshire soldier

Private Gregg Thomas Stone, 20, was part of a task force that rescued a local man who was going to be executed by insurgents in Helmand province last June.

The married soldier, from 3rd Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment, and his colleagues had entered a compound where the hostage was being held, the inquest at Hull Coroners’ Court heard.

However, they came under heavy fire from enemy troops hiding in nearby jungle as they made their getaway.

Pte Stone, originally from Hull, collapsed after being shot through the cheek. He was given first aid but showed no signs of life, the hearing was told.

He was taken to a waiting helicopter and was airlifted to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

His friend Private Lewis Murphy, who was serving alongside Pte Stone, was commended by the coroner after telling the inquest how he carried his fallen colleague across a river.

“It happened so fast,” he said. “The next thing we were told was ‘man down’.

“We weren’t sure what condition he was in. We were in the fight but we weren’t actually engaging the enemy.”

Pte Murphy said he took Pte Stone to the banks of a nearby river, adding: “We tried to get Gregg across the river without a stretcher.

“I just picked Gregg up and started running to the helicopter.”

He said two other soldiers also helped as he got closer to the aircraft.

He told Pte Stone’s family, who sat opposite him at the inquest: “Gregg wasn’t just a great soldier - he was a great friend.”

In what the coroner, Professor Paul Marks, called an “extremely sad case” he praised the courage of the soldiers who took part in the mission.

Recording a verdict that Pte Stone was unlawfully killed while on active service, he said: “I cannot praise too highly the courage of Pte Stone and his comrades.

“The reason I praise them so highly is that they are volunteers in the deployment to a very dangerous theatre of conflict.”

Prof Marks said he will write to the commanding officer of the soldiers who “risked their lives to save a fallen comrade” to acknowledge their bravery.

He expressed his sympathies to Pte Stone’s family, saying: “Inquests such as this are extremely difficult to listen to. If I find that, I can’t even contemplate how difficult it is for the families.”

He also said he could find no flaws in the equipment the late serviceman was issued with, or in the training he received.