There is some discomfort in left-liberal circles in Britain with the military in general and tales of derring-do in particular. In the United States, by contrast, the public tends to embrace its veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. They are happy to make a distinction between politicians who embark on unpopular wars and the people sent to fight them. In the UK, the prevailing attitude tends to be indifference and a certain unease with words such as “courage”, at least when they are used in the context of combat.
But 27-year-old Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey of the Parachute Regiment did show extraordinary courage. On an exposed hillside in Afghanistan in 2013 he helped rescue a joint US-UK team that was under siege from Taliban fighters. Three times he crossed the hillside under heavy fire, circumstances in which most people, as the prime minister has pointed out, would freeze from fear.
He deserves his Victoria Cross for courage, and praise too for his modesty. In interviews this week he has repeatedly insisted that he should not be singled out, and that the award was for his entire regiment.
