Cut & paste from 'The People' newspaper 3 Apr 11.
A hero airman believes a “golden angel” lucky charm has helped him to cheat death TWENTY times in Afghanistan. RAF Flight Lieutenant Adam Booth, 30, *survived a bullet which hit him in an arm, *another which flew *between his legs, 16 *grenade attacks and his vehicle being blown up – twice.
Despite the arm injury he scorned the chance to be airlifted to hospital and stayed on the battlefield to help to rescue 22 wounded soldiers – 15 of them *critically injured. And dad-of-two Adam says it’s all thanks to that lucky charm that he is still alive. He said: “It’s a gold brooch of an angel about a centimetre across that my wife got for me. When I go away she hides it in my equipment and I have to find it.
I don’t wear it because it has a pin and I don’t want it to stick into me when I’m lying on the ground. I keep it in my day sack and it goes everywhere with me. It seems to have done its job.” The soldiers Adam was working with began to notice how many times he had come close to death – and a sergeant nicknamed him Jonah. Adam said: “There’ve been lots of explosions, I’ve been shot, I’ve had dust in the eyes, mouthfuls of grit and ringing ears, but I’ve got away with it”.
The airman, of Basingstoke, Hants, received a Mention in Despatches for his heroism in the rescue of the wounded soldiers while serving near Nad-e Ali in Helmand. He said: “A bullet from a burst of heavy tracer fire hit my right arm and knocked me two or three metres to the ground and hit the guy who was *covering me in the legs. “I had a mouthful of grit and could not feel my arm at all.”
Adam called in a helicopter to pick up his badly injured colleague – but refused to travel with him. He said: “My job was to hang around until we had got 130 men safely off the ground. I didn’t think twice. I had to stay.”
I trust Jonahs section will get the 'Slab' tomorrow! What is a 'MOAT?'