Tri-Service
Victoria Cross Awarded to Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey for Gallantry
A Para from Hampshire has won the Victoria Cross almost 70 years after another member of his family was awarded the same honour.
Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey, 27, has been given the British armed forces' highest military decoration awarded for valour in the face of the enemy for heroic exploits in Afghanistan.
His second cousin twice removed, Sergeant Nigel Gray Leakey, was a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross in November 1945 for his gallantry while fighting in Africa during the Second World War.
L/Cpl Leakey, from Hampshire, is only the 15th serviceman to receive the VC since the Second World War.
He is also the third serviceman to receive the VC for service in Afghanistan and the only one not to receive it posthumously.
"I'm lucky - I'm here, I've got all my limbs, my health, I've got my friends and my family. This award is brilliant, but it's also something I'm accepting on behalf of my regiment and my battalion, of which I'm so proud."
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