Miracle Escape For British Solider!
Updated : Apr 20, 2009
A soldier was proclaimed the luckiest in the British Army after a bullet went through his helmet, but missed his head.
Private Leon "Willy" Wilson, 32, said he was left without a mark after the round tore through his Mark 6a head protection and missed his head by an estimated two millimetres.
The Territorial Army soldier, from Manchester, who was on attachment with 2nd Battalion of the Mercian Regiment (Worcesters and Foresters), was knocked flat on his back by the impact of the shot in Afghanistan. Defence chiefs pronounced him "officially the luckiest man in the British Army".
Pte Wilson had been manning a machine gun during a fierce battle with the Taliban in Helmand Province on April 10 when he was hit by the 7.62mm AK47 bullet, the Ministry of Defence said.
The father-of-three said: "I took my finger off the trigger when the shot hit my helmet.
"I was knocked clean off my position and landed on my back. I had my eyes shut."
He asked another private next to him if he had been shot. He was just staring at me in amazement and swearing, and said 'Yes'," Pte Wilson said.
"The medic was looking queasy - I don't think anyone wanted to take my helmet off."
The soldier, who is a self-employed electrician when not on active duty, was back in the thick of the fighting within an hour after finding a new helmet.
The gun battle came after British and Afghan soldiers destroyed an insurgent bomb factory in the village of Khowshhal Kalay. They were fired on after sheltering overnight in a compound
VeryHappyPig says is nobody worried about the poor helmet!
