It's been said that being in a war takes the measure of a man. That is, the stress of killing or being killed tends to bring out either the best or worst in people. In the case of UK paratrooper Peter McKinley, age 21, it may have been the former.
According to the Manchester newspaper article, a U.S. supply convoy was ambushed in a region of Afghanistan called Sangin. One hundred British paratroopers were sent to rescue the convoy. During the engagement, two Americans were pinned down and wounded. Hearing their cries for help, Private McKinley, in the face of rocket propelled grenades and withering machine gun fire, selflessly ran across open ground to reach the location of the two men. Then, amid incoming rounds that continued to rain around him, and with complete disregard for his own safety, he provided first aide care to the seriously wounded sergeant.
If the newspaper account is accurate,
and I have no reason to believe it is not, then it is not surprising
that Private McKinley is being nominated for Britain's highest war time
award - the Victoria
Cross. The VC, as it is sometimes called, is awarded 'to those officers or men
who have served us in the presence of the enemy and shall then have
performed some signal act of valour or devotion to their country'.
If the award is so bestowed, McKinley will apparently be only the second living individual in the last 40 years to
be so honored.
