Posted on 11/27/2002 4:14:51 PM PST by knighthawk
SAS soldier Martin "Jock" Wallace thought he would die when he was dropped into the jaws of an enemy ambush in the dusty Shahi Kot valley in eastern Afghanistan.
Now, for the first time, a member of the Special Air Service Regiment has been allowed to go public with his story about the operation that almost killed him.
On March 2 this year, Wallace, an SAS comrade and 80 US Rangers fought for their lives, honouring the regimental motto: Who Dares Wins.
Allied intelligence failed to predict the presence of up to 1000 heavily armed al-Qaeda fighters in the ridges above where US Chinook choppers landed the 82 soldiers at 6.45am.
The men endured more than 18 hours of enemy fire, at one stage digging into the hard ground with knives and bare hands to find cover.
"It was a pretty scary situation to be in," he said. "During the day we had rockets, RPGs, mortars, heavy machine guns, small arms fire and a SAM missile was also launched.
"They [the enemy] had managed to dominate both the ridge lines and launched a ground assault from the north.
"By the end of that they'd set up a machine gun in the south so they had us surrounded."
Wallace's job as signaller was to keep the radio alive, send signals and tend to the wounded while fighting for his life.
Relief came at midnight when the men were airlifted off the battlefield by US helicopters.
Yesterday Jock Wallace from NSW stood with two SAS comrades, Major Dan McDaniel from WA and Warrant Officer Mark Keily from Victoria, to receive the nation's third highest award for valour – the Medal for Gallantry.
Major McDaniel won the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) and Warrant Officer Keily won the Order of Australia.
SAS commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Peter "Gus" Gilmore from Victoria, who is in Afghanistan supervising the withdrawal of his troops, was given the Distinguished Service Cross for "distinguished command and leadership".
Three other SAS soldiers, who cannot be named for security reasons, were also given medals for their work in Afghanistan.
Asked why he thought he survived the heaviest fighting by Australian troops since Vietnam, Signalman Wallace said: "Being Australian has got a fair bit to do with it. We've got a proud tradition on the battlefield and it's up to us to uphold that."
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