Heroic action under fire in Iraq rates awards for RAF pair

Daily Mail:

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Flight Lieutenant Goodman became the first woman to win a Distinguished Flying Cross after her heroic helicopter rescue mission under fire in Basra.

Corporal Hayden became the first airman to receive the Military Cross for the courage he showed in racing to carry a dying friend away from a firefight.

The medals were among 20 awarded to RAF personnel as part of an 184-strong roll of honour for those who served recently in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yesterday you had only to listen to their individual stories to understand why they wore their fatigues and blue berets with such pride.

Michelle, 31, wanted to join the RAF from the moment her father took her to an air show at the age of nine. Last year, with 78 Squadron based at RAF Benson, Oxfordshire, she embarked on her third tour of duty in Iraq.

On June 1, she was the captain of an "Incident Reaction Team" Merlin helicopter on the outskirts of Basra. In the city, Rifleman Stephen Vause lay critically wounded. Medics believed he would survive no longer than 15 minutes unless he could be airlifted to hospital.

Michelle could easily have decided a rescue mission would be too dangerous. "But if it was me lying down there," she told me yesterday, "I'd like to think there was someone prepared to come and get me."

She asked her crew if they were prepared to take the chance and they all agreed.

"I wouldn't have done it without asking them," she said. "This wasn't going to be a one-woman show. I just told them, 'I think this could be a bit dodgy.' But they all wanted to go, and they were all fantastically professional."

Using night vision goggles, she flew at 160mph over the rooftops, under heavy gun and mortar fire, and landed in a swirl of dust.

"It was so thick, it was impossible to see where we were going," she said.

"The crew could see the ground and guided me down." It took five anxious minutes to locate and board the casualty.

For all of that time, the Merlin was a sitting duck. Recalling the moment yesterday, Michelle revealed casually that it was the first time she had come under fire.

Was she scared? "It sounds odd to say it, but your training just kicks in, and you just get on with it. I guess the adrenaline keeps you going - I felt like my eyes were out on stalks."

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Now the Manchester University graduate hopes publicity about her medal will encourage others, men or women, to join the RAF.

So, too, might the tale of Corporal Hayden, a 29-year-old ex-comprehensive schoolboy from Spalding, Lincolnshire, who joined the RAF Regiment.

The 6ft 3in serviceman won the MC after running 250 yards under fire with a wounded colleague slung over his shoulder.

Corporal Hayden, married with a four-year-old son, was with a patrol on the outskirts of Basra when they came under fire from around 50 insurgents last August.

"Every time we tried to move, we got hammered from about four or five different places," he said yesterday.

Then Leading Aircraftsman Martin Beard was hit and fatally wounded. But Corporal Hayden was not prepared to give up on him.

He saw a 6ft mud wall between him and his wounded comrade and raced over open ground towards it. The only way through was a steel door, but it was locked.

"I just got my head down and ran at the door," he said.

"It came off on its hinges and we ran out into the open to get Beardy. Me and one of the lads from the section grabbed him and moved him about 20 yards to cover. We were still receiving fire."

He hoisted the wounded man on to his shoulder and ran another 200 yards across cesspits, broken sewers and other obstacles to safety.

"Then off I went again," (as he nonchalantly put it yesterday) to rescue the rest of his section.

Yesterday he was modest about his achievements, praising the rest of his men and paying tribute to the fallen.

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Flight Lt. Goodman is a babe and Corp. Haydon looks like a bruiser in this photo. They both deserve credit for their courage in going to the aid of fellow troops. Both have indicated that they also have no fear of wearing their uniform off the base.

The Guardian reports that the uniform off base row was caused by five months of abuse suffered by an RAF nurse who was in training at the same base.