Great Britain: Fallen hero set for VC honour (Inspirational story of heroism and dedication)

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | October 16, 2006 | TOM NEWTON DUNN

[Stoat]

 EXCLUSIVE 

 

Fallen hero set for VC honour

 

 
Brave ... Cpl Bryan Budd saved his pals

 

By TOM NEWTON DUNN
Defence Editor
OCTOBER 16, 2006

 
HERO Para Cpl Bryan Budd was cut down by a hail of Taliban bullets as he took on a group of the fanatics alone, it was revealed last night.

 

Full details of his extraordinary actions were described for the first time by a comrade.

And it was confirmed that senior officers want the corporal’s extreme valour to be marked with a posthumous Victoria Cross.

It would be only the second to be awarded in 24 years.

Father-of-two Cpl Budd, 29, saved seven other soldiers with his selfless courage on August 20 in Afghanistan’s lawless Helmand province.

His men were under fire in the notorious northern town of Sangin, where Cpl Budd and the rest of 3 Para’s A Company were based.

They were ordered to hold a small, isolated coalition outpost — dubbed a platoon house — against a vicious daily Taliban onslaught for months.

Recalling the fateful day, the fallen corporal’s comrade said:

We were sent out to protect some engineers who were blowing holes in a compound 500 metres away from the platoon house.

That was so we could cut through the compound quickly and avoid enemy fire when we were out on patrol.

There were three sections of us out, a total of 24 guys, all spread out in a head-high cornfield around the compound.

Bryan was the first to spot about four Taliban approaching, really close to us, only about 50 metres away.

With just hand signals, he led his section in a flanking manoeuvre round to the cornfield’s outskirts to try to cut them off.

But the section was spotted by the enemy before they could get there, and they opened fire on the lads.

Then a load more Taliban behind a wall further back also opened up on the section.

 

Top honour ... the Victoria Cross
 

 

The guys were taking heavy fire from two positions. The enemy were just blatting away, their AK47s above their heads, and rounds were coming in from all over the shop.

One lad got a bullet in the shoulder, and another was shot in the nose.

Everyone was kneeling or lying down, trying to take cover. It was mayhem.

That’s when Bryan made his move. He knew how dangerous it was but he obviously decided it was his responsibility to destroy the threat, because the enemy were cutting us to pieces.

He got up and rushed straight through the corn in the direction of the Taliban just 20 metres away.

We heard Bryan’s rifle open up on them on fully automatic mode but that was the last anyone heard of him. All contact was lost with Bryan. Straight afterwards, the enemy’s fire lessened and allowed the rest of his section to withdraw back to safety so the casualties could be treated.

Bryan was declared missing in action and practically the whole company was then sent back to find him.

We went into the cornfield to fight our way forward. Apache and Harrier air support was called in, and after a long fight we beat the Taliban back. About an hour later some of the lads found Bryan's body beside two dead Taliban. It was obvious he was the one who had wasted them but he was obviously hit at the same time — by either them or the fighters behind the wall. He was badly wounded and he had no pulse.

The company sergeant major rushed forward on a quad bike to get him and carried Bryan back to the platoon house. But there was nothing anyone could do for him by then and he was declared dead.

The comrade added: “What Bryan did was amazing. He made the ultimate sacrifice for his men. We believe he should get the ultimate award for it.

“It would be a fitting tribute, and would mean a lot to his wife and kids. But most importantly, he’s earned it.” Senior Para officers believe Cpl Budd deserves the extremely rare VC as his bravery was in the highest traditions of the elite regiment.

Despite other recent reports, Cpl Budd’s VC citation is the only one to go forward for his regiment’s bloody, six-month tour of the Afghan badlands.

A final decision will not be made until early next year.

Confirming the move, an impeccably placed Para source said: “Cpl Budd ticks almost every box needed for a VC.

 

Order of events ... 1. Engineers blow up walls 2. Taliban approach through fields 3. Cpl Budd and men counter-attack 4. Taliban open fire and wound two 5. Cpl Budd charges at enemy
 

 

“We don’t know if he’ll get it as it’s almost impossible to win these days and his family have been warned not to get their hopes up yet.

“But we think his chances are very strong and everyone is keeping their fingers crossed. He is the only soldier we have nominated for the big one.” Cpl Budd, from Ripon, North Yorks, had only just joined A Company as a section commander when he died.

He had been transferred from the Parachute Regiment’s elite reconnaissance unit, the Pathfinders Platoon, in which he served with distinction in Sierra Leone, Macedonia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Softly spoken and generous, he had quickly become a very popular leader, the comrade said.

He added: “All the blokes had huge respect for him.

“That’s not an easy thing to achieve when you’re so new to a tight-knit company. He was a quiet guy but he really opened up when you got to know him. He used to tell us how much he loved the Army and the Parachute Regiment and was going to serve out his full 22 years.”

Cpl Budd’s widow Lorena, 23, was eight months pregnant with their second child when he was killed. She has since given birth to a boy.

The comrade said: “The only thing that meant more to Bryan than the Army was his family. He doted on his two-year-old daughter Isabelle.”

The corporal’s brave action was similar to that of the last soldier to win the top medal posthumously, in the Falklands War 24 years ago. After the Battle of Mount Longdon, another Para, Sgt Ian McKay, was awarded a VC for charging and wiping out an Argentine machine gun position that stalled an attack.

Since then the only VC to be awarded was to Caribbean-born Private Johnson Beharry two years ago.

The Warrior driver saved his platoon by driving through two ambushes in Iraq, suffering life-threatening injuries.

An MoD spokeswoman said last night: “Operational honours and awards for the period April 1 to September 30, 2006 have not yet been considered. We never speculate on bravery awards.”

 

Top gongs for true heroes

 

Hero ... Sgt Ian McKay
 

THE VC was created by Queen Victoria in January 1856 and is still Britain’s most senior decoration.

Only 1,355 have been given out and only 12 holders are still alive.

Every VC is cast from the bronze of two Russian Crimean War cannon.

Winners, like Falklands hero Sgt Ian McKay, must have saved life and altered a battle’s course.

[Stoat]

The Sun Online - Sun Says BArmy ban

A true hero

 

FEW can argue against the war in Afghanistan.

 

The resurgent Taliban are hell-bent on returning the land to the Dark Ages — a brutal regime of hardline Islam with routine oppression of women and two despicable exports: Heroin and terrorism.

 

So even the anti-war brigade should salute Corporal Bryan Budd, who sacrificed his life for his men by single-handedly charging down a Taliban position.

 

His bravery sounds every bit as deserving of the VC as that of Iraq hero Johnson Beharry, who last year became the first man to receive the military’s top honour in almost a quarter of a century.

 

Bryan, a 29-year-old Para, never met his infant son.

 

That little lad can be proud of his old man for the rest of his life.

[Duchess47]

God bless

[SandRat]

[ASOC]

It's a shame the lads didn't have the odd LAW or two, could have made the fight a bit more even.

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[oneamericanvoice]

God Bless the Brits! Three cheers for all the lads!

[LonePalm]

Hand salute for two heros from an aging Navy cold warrior.

It still amazes me how we always seems to find such fine young men when we need them.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Stoat]

Hand salute for two heros from an aging Navy cold warrior.

It still amazes me how we always seems to find such fine young men when we need them.

I would suggest that as long as Great Britain (or the United States) remain worthy of defending and protecting, then they will find us  :-)

There will always be those those hearts and spirits compel them to do the right thing, regardless of the personal cost.  When great nations stand for freedom, honor and decency then they will attract the best that the world has to offer, such as Cpl. Bryan Budd, or yourself.  :-)

Thank you for serving our country.

Hand salute for two heros from an aging Navy cold warrior.

It still amazes me how we always seems to find such fine young men when we need them.

[Stoat]

It's a shame the lads didn't have the odd LAW or two, could have made the fight a bit more even.

Agreed, although an occasional Daisy Cutter provides an excellent value for your defense dollars as well  :-)

[ASOC]

That *would* have taken out the wall, and perhpas the whole burg...

Thanks for the laff.

[VOA]

bump

[Dutchy]

FYI..

[Stoat]

UPDATE

The Sun Online - News Hero Para Bryan is still a VC

 EXCLUSIVE 

 

Hero Para Bryan is still a VC

 

 
Hero ... Bryan Budd died while saving pals, and inset, his widow Lorena

 

By JOHN KAY
Chief Reporter
FEBRUARY 16, 2007
 
 

 

 

 

 
THE heroic Para feared shot dead by his own comrades in Afghanistan still deserves his Victoria Cross, military sources insisted last night.

 

Corporal Bryan Budd died in a hail of bullets while saving seven pals during clashes with Taliban fighters last summer.

His widow Lorena, 23 — a clerk with the Royal Artillery — is due to collect his posthumous VC from the Queen at Buckingham Palace next month.

She was said to be “totally devastated” yesterday after being officially warned his death was probably due to a “blue on blue”.

But last night it was stressed there was no suggestion that Cpl Budd’s VC would be withdrawn or downgraded if friendly fire is proven.

A senior military source said: “It increasingly looks like this is a terribly tragic case of friendly fire. However, there is no question of taking back Cpl Budd’s VC or downgrading it. Even if it is proved conclusively that his death was caused by friendly fire, he fulfilled all the credentials necessary to be awarded the VC.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to his widow and family who understandably were devastated after being officially informed of this possibility.”

The source added: “The harsh truth is that in close-quarter combat you are almost as likely to be killed by your own side as the enemy.”

A source at 3 Para in Colchester, Essex, where 29-year-old Cpl Budd was based, said: “The horrible truth that is dawning on us is that Bryan’s death was probably caused by friendly fire.

“Friendly fire is bad enough at the best of times — but when it claims the life of a VC hero it is unbelievable.

 

On duty ... with Army on Afghan tour, and inset, the Victoria Cross
 

 

“Yet our view is that whatever the circumstances, Bryan fully deserved his VC and died heroically while fighting to save his comrades. Obviously his comrades are extremely cut up after being warned that one of them may have unwittingly fired the fatal shots which killed him.”

A detailed investigation of the circumstances surrounding Cpl Budd’s death revealed the possibility of friendly fire.

An examination of his bullet-ridden body revealed that the ammunition used was of the calibre employed by British forces.

Pathologists who conducted a forensic examination of his wounds also concluded that they were inflicted by British bullets.

The only explanation other than friendly fire was that Taliban forces stole British weapons or bought Nato kit on the black market,

The 3 Para source added: “Although we’ve been told about the other possibilities, these seem highly unlikely. The fact the family have been told there is a possibility of a ‘blue on blue’ means that this is the conclusion to which the investigation is leading.”

The shocking revelation follows last week’s disclosure by The Sun of a cockpit video showing the moments a US pilot gunned down Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull, 25, with friendly fire in 2003.

The citation for Cpl Budd, of Ripon, North Yorks, listed two extraordinary acts of valour as he led a section of seven men in the dangerous outpost of Sangin.

He was last seen alive in August, sprinting towards approaching Taliban with his rifle blazing.

Last night Lt Colonel Stuart Tootal, CO of 3 Para, told The Sun: “Given the dynamics of close- quarter combat that we experienced in Afghanistan, there is always the possibility of casualties caused by friendly fire.

“However, this does not in any way detract from the utmost valour of Cpl Budd’s actions which led to the winning of his VC.

“As ever, my thoughts remain with his family and we remain in close contact with his wife Lorena.”

General Sir Antony Walker, former deputy chief of the Defence Staff, said: “Blue on blue or friendly fire engagements are more common on operations than people think.

“They are always tragic mistakes but are almost always made in good faith. If there is negligence involved that must be investigated. But if it was a ‘heat of battle’ incident I do not see the need for a witch-hunt. Whatever happened, nothing can detract from the valour and gallantry of Corporal Budd, who thoroughly deserved his posthumous VC.”

The Ministry of Defence said: “Cpl Budd’s death is currently the subject of a routine service police investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

Cpl Budd left two daughters — baby Imogen, who he never met, and two-year old Isabelle.

A trust fund has been set up for them.

To contribute, send cheques payable to The Bryan Budd Memorial Fund, c/o RHQ PARA, Flagstaff House, Colchester, Napier Road, Essex, CO2 7SW.

 

He gave life to save mates

HERO Bryan Budd died after he and comrades from 3 Para’s A Company were sent out to protect a party of engineers.

He spotted about four Taliban fighters approaching as they hid in a cornfield near Sangin in Afghanistan’s lawless Helmand province.

Cpl Budd led his section in a flanking movement to cut off the Taliban. But the Paras were spotted and came under heavy fire.

After two Britons were wounded, Cpl Budd charged straight through the corn at Taliban just 20 metres away, blazing away with his rifle.His brave attack allowed the Paras to withdraw — but they quickly realised he was missing.

The company raced to the scene and drove the Taliban away while searching for their mate. Cpl Budd’s body was found beside two insurgents he had killed.

The company sergeant major mounted a quad bike and raced forward to pick him up.

On July 27 last year, Cpl Budd had led his men into Taliban fire to save a wounded comrade.