Three years ago today, Lance Cpl. Joshua Leakey, a 27-year-old paratrooper in the British Army, received the Victoria Cross.

Leakey is credited with braving enemy fire to tend to Marine Capt. Brandon Bocian, an infantry officer, who was wounded in an hourlong firefight in Helmand province on Aug. 22, 2013.

Leakey, with "complete disregard for his own safety," tended to Bocian twice while taking fire from about 20 insurgents armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.


Bocian said Leakey, who had served with 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment since 2007, ran back across the hillside to help him with his wound. Leakey then ran across to receive ammunition and equipment before returning to Bocian. Leakey stayed with Bocian until he was loaded on the medevac helicopter.

During the attack, 11 Taliban fighters were killed and four wounded, according to the Ministry of Defence.

"It's part of the very nature of being in the Army, and especially the Parachute Regiment, that we have to adapt to situations you don't expect to happen," Leakey said of the award, according to TheDaily Mail.

This will be the second Victoria Cross for the Leakey family. Leakey's cousin, Sgt. Nigel Gray Leakey, was a posthumously awarded the medal while fighting in Africa in 1941 during World War II.