Millies 2017: Hero At Home Individual

The winner of the Military Awards 2017 'Hero At Home Individual’ category is Lieutenant Jared Bambridge, who gave life-saving first aid to victims of the London Bridge terror attack on 3 June 2017. 

Three terrorists had driven a van into crowds on London Bridge and then, armed with knives, had begun to attack people in the Borough Market area until they were shot by the Police.

Running towards danger with no regard for his personal safety, he was a first-responder while the attack was underway and continued to assist the emergency services in its immediate aftermath.

After receiving the award Lieutenant Bambridge said:

"I'm honoured. Leaving, to me, was something that never struck my mind. I saw people that needed help and I acted."

The Night of 3 June 2017

Newly commissioned Lt Bambridge (1st Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment) had spent an evening at the Globe Theatre with his girlfriend.

As they made their way towards London Bridge underground station, they encountered a 51-year-old man who was face down in the road with two stab wounds to his back.

The man who had been stabbed was Richard Livett, who was out for the night with his brother-in-law Keith Leach.

Richard said: “Within a split-second [the terrorist] was right in front of my face and kind of bumped into me and put his arm round and stabbed me with the 12-inch blade.”

“Everything all around [London Bridge] was going crazy.”

Richard managed to make his way to Borough Market before falling to the ground where he was found by Lt Bambridge.

The officer made sure his distressed girlfriend had moved to safety and proceeded to give first aid to the Richard, who appeared to be losing blood quickly.

Lt Bambridge said: “When I first found Richard, he was lying on the floor face down, clearly in a lot of pain.”

“He had a couple of people over the top of him, one of whom was an off duty doctor.

“I immediately applied pressure to his back, tried to stem the bleeding as best as I could.”

Richard said that he knew Lt Bambridge had arrived because he “immediately took control of the situation.”

As Lt Bambridge continued to apply pressure to the victim’s wounds, there was suddenly an overwhelming Police presence and a burst of gunfire only 20-30 metres away.

Lt Bambridge did not leave Richard. He said: “I knew that if I left Richard he was going to bleed out and clearly that wasn’t an option for me.”

As the shooting rang out, the street became deserted leaving one man standing, frozen, in the middle of the road.

Bambridge directed the individual to crawl towards him.

The young officer then picked up the first casualty and extracted both men to an ambulance exchange point.

Lt Bambridge remains modest. He said: “I don’t see it as brave.”

“I see it as doing what any human being would do given the circumstances.”

Richard survived the attack and has since revisited the site at Borough Market. He said: “I was lapsing in and out of consciousness and [Lt Bambridge] was constantly reassuring me... that was a great thing.”

Keith Leach, Richard’s brother-in-law said: “I do believe that if Jared hadn’t been there, I don’t think Richard would have made it. I really don’t.”

During the extraction Lt Bambridge passed multiple severely injured victims and, once he dropped off the first casualties, he raced back against the flow of people.

Using his first aid training, he triaged and treated four more bleeding casualties; two of these died from their severe wounds and he extracted the others to safety.

Once the terrorists were dead, a bomb threat was issued. Now fully aware of the danger he was putting himself in, Lieutenant Bambridge offered further assistance to the emergency services and moved to a new location to treat a further four serious casualties, one of whom died.

After a gruelling two hours, the situation was stable and Bambridge, by now exhausted and shaken, returned to collect his girlfriend.

It is estimated that Lieutenant Bambridge treated a total of 11 casualties and saved multiple lives.