A BOMB disposal expert who saved his comrades by defusing buried roadside bombs with two broken fingers has been awarded the Military Cross.
Staff Sergeant Gareth Wood, 29, of Didcot’s 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, cut his hand while wrenching a bomb from the ground in Helmand Province.
Yet he refused to return to base for treatment until he had made five IEDs safe to let a stranded Mastiff vehicle escape.
S Sgt Wood completed the task on March 30 with his arm in a sling and his fingers strapped to a splint and under heavy Taliban fire.
He broke his fingers while pulling out the second bomb.
His citation reads: “He refused to be evacuated and insisted upon completing his task with nothing more than the crudest of first aid.”
After defusing the bombs, the Mastiff was able to escape.
Before the incident, SSgt Wood told the Oxford Mail: “You cannot rush, no matter what the threat.”
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