Hero soldier gets bravery award

A courageous Black Country military policeman is to be presented with a bravery award after risking his life to save colleagues trapped inside a vehicle which had plunged into a river in Afghanistan.

Redcap Corporal Andrew Griffin, aged 24, of Walsall, has been awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery (QCB) in the Operational Honours List.

Cpl Griffin of 101 Provost Company RMP was mentoring the Afghan National Police and providing close protection to the Brigade Commander. The vehicle he was in rolled off a bridge, landing upside down in the river below.

"I was on top cover, along with another guy, a Royal Engineer, LCpl Jake Alderton," said Cpl Griffin, a former pupil at St Francis of Assisi School in Aldridge.

"The vehicle was submerged. At first I didn't know if anyone else had got out. It was dark but I was lucky enough to end up near the door so I just started grabbing people to get them out. I pulled out the dog handler and his dog and he said there was some one still left inside.

"I went underwater to look. I found Jake, who was trapped by the vehicle but sadly he was already dead and I couldn't pull him out."

An injured soldier and an interpreter were taken by helicopter to a field hospital from Sangin province.

In total Cpl Griffin, who has also provided close protection for Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, helped seven to safety in November.

"I didn't think much about it," he said. "I just knew some one had to act and that I was the first person out".

After post-tour leave, Andrew is now at a military base in Germany and will officially get his QCB at an award ceremony this year.

His father, Raymond, said today the whole family was "extremely proud" of his son. "He was in the cadets when he was younger and always enjoyed that and then when he was 18 he wanted to join the army and so I went with him to Birmingham where he signed up.

"It is worrying when he is away, especially in dangerous locations like Afghanistan, but that is his job and what he is happy doing."