Soldier riskeddeath to savecomrade's life

A Yorkshire war hero has told how after being blown off his feet by a land mine in Afghanistan he then risked death by clawing his way through the dust and buried bombs to save a comrade who had suffered critical injuries in the blast.

Corporal John Hardman, 32, crawled on his hands and knees across the deadly ground – later found to be strewn with 28 explosive devices – knowing one wrong move could be fatal but his comrade would bleed to death without help.

A sweep of the minefield later revealed he had come within yards of triggering another explosion, as he picked his way through the dirt.

After giving the injured colleague first aid that doctors later said had saved the casualty’s life, he stayed by his side until the rest of the patrol could reach them, then helped carry the stretcher.

A sweep of the area later revealed 28 explosives buried in the ground, some just yards away from the first one to go off. But he never breathed a word to his parents back in England until it was announced he was to receive the Queen’s Gallantry Medal.

But yesterday the returning soldier, who lives on the South Cliff, Scarborough, with his partner and their eight-year-old twins David and Alicia, insisted he had just done what anyone would do.

He said: “I didn’t think it was anything special.”

The patrol had been mounted to find a clear path through the minefield, and Cpl Hardman was second in line, covering the lead soldier when the man in front triggered the mine.

The blast at first numbed him to what was going on. “I realised what had happened but thought it was me that had been blown up,” he added.

He had suffered facial injuries. But once the dust began to clear, he could see his comrade had suffered far worse wounds – and remembered what he had been taught.

“It was the first time anything like that had happened to us. But we did a lot of training for this kind of situation. The other guys got to him shortly after me,” he continued.

Cpl Hardman visited the injured team mate soon after the incident at the end of last year. “He is still recovering now, but he is doing well,” he continued.

Cpl Hardman and his colleagues from the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) returned for a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan’s Helmand province in May last year just 18 months after coming home from the first one.

As well as the two tours in Afghanistan now under his belt, he has also served in Bosnia and Northern Ireland. He expects to go back to Afghanistan again next year.

Despite the continuing attacks he believes things are slowly getting better, and the coalition forces were making a real impact on the situation.

But when he returned from his last tour he never even told his parents what had happened until the announcement of the latest 131 service personnel named in the operational honours list.

His mother Annie said: “He’d been called off exercises to let him know and just sent a quick text message to say ‘Look the honours list’. Then he went back to exercises.

“His father and I are over the moon and as proud as Punch. He joined the Army straight after he left school. It’s what he always wanted to do, and he’s always done what’s expected of him – but he is not one to shout about it.”

His citation reads: “The level of danger to which Cpl Hardman had exposed himself was revealed during a follow-up clearance operation a few weeks later, which discovered and disposed of 28 devices near to where the incident happened.

“Many were only a few metres away from the site of the explosion.

“In addition, personnel at Bastion Hospital commented on the outstanding first aid that the soldier had received. It had been among the best they had ever seen and had, without doubt, saved the soldier’s life.”