Midland soldier awarded Military Cross after he defused Taliban bombs with broken fingers

Sep 26 2010 by Paul Cole, Sunday Mercury

IT WAS an astounding act of bravery. His fingers badly broken, and his arm in a sling, Midland hero Gareth Wood battled through the pain barrier to carry on defusing deadly Taliban bombs.

As he worked to make the devices safe, bullets whizzed past his head. But still he refused to take cover, so determined was he to save the lives of his fellow soldiers on the front line.

Had the 29 year-old bomb disposal expert surrendered to his injuries, the rest of his patrol could have been wiped out.

Today Staff Sergeant Wood was awarded the Military Cross, granted in recognition of “acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land to all members in Our Armed Forces.”

And the full story of his amazing exploits was revealed for the first time.

S/Sgt Wood, of 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, from Milton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, was injured in a life-or-death situation in Helmand Province on March 30.

His extraordinary display of heroism came after a fully-manned Mastiff armoured car was hit by a roadside bomb and became stranded in a minefield deep in enemy terrain.

With just four hours of daylight remaining, he set about clearing the improvised explosive devices – or IEDs – insisting that the other soldiers took cover while he defused the first bomb.

Taliban snipers immediately opened fire, turning the road into a potential killing field, but S/Sgt Wood didn’t bat an eyelid. He ripped a second device from the ground with his bare hands, breaking two of his fingers and slashing his arm in the process.