Scott
09-23-2009, 07:47 AM
Tribute to dead MC hero
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/StonedSOD/SNN2305HERO-682_894450a.jpgHonoured ... Mike meets the Queen in 2007
By TOM NEWTON DUNN
Defence Editor
THE grief-stricken parents of a Military Cross hero killed by the Taliban said last night: "He was everything we could ever have wanted in a son."
Dad-of-three Sergeant Mike Lockett - honoured by the Queen last year for supreme bravery - died "doing a job he was born to do with his 'boys'."
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/StonedSOD/SNN2305D-180_894449a.jpgProud soldier ... Mike Lockett
Mum April and dad Mal fought back their tears to declare: "We are immensely proud."
His devastated regiment admitted: "There is now a gap in our ranks that will be so very difficult to fill."
The acting sergeant, 29, became the 217th British soldier killed in the Afghan horror when a roadside bomb he was investigating exploded in the Gereshk district of Helmand
He is the first Military Cross holder to fall in battle in living memory.
Just like in 2007 - when his selfless courage saving wounded comrades went down as one of the most outstanding rescues of the Afghan war - the Scot was leading from the front to safeguard his platoon.
Inspiration
Back then he selflessly dashed back into a killing zone three times to pull FOUR ambushed men from certain death. He was honoured for "unshakeable bravery".
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/StonedSOD/SNN2305E-180_894448a.jpg
Bomb victim ... dad-of-three Mike
Mike, known as "Locky" to his men in 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment, said after the Queen pinned his medal on him: "You've got guys out there - and you're not leaving them."
The soldier, from Monifieth in Angus, was killed in Helmand on Monday. Proud partner Belinda English she said of his sacrifice: "For Queen and country."
Mike's former wife Natalie Lockett was yesterday comforting their children, Connor, eight, Chloe, seven, and Courtney, five.
Mike, a veteran of Bosnia and Northern Ireland, was nearing the end of his third tour of the Afghan badlands in two years. Because he had vast local knowledge he had volunteered to stay on to brief replacement troops.
Two fellow soldiers were injured in the cowardly bomb blast.
Company commander Major Bob Moorhouse said: "Sergeant Lockett's raw bravery and selflessness cost him his life but undoubtedly saved that of one his soldiers." Lt Col Simon Banton hailed Mike a "true hero". Private Alex Sheridan - one of Mike's men - saluted him as an "inspiration".
The last Military Cross holder killed on operations was SAS Major James Stenner - victim of a 2004 car crash in Baghdad.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/StonedSOD/SNN2305HERO-682_894450a.jpgHonoured ... Mike meets the Queen in 2007
By TOM NEWTON DUNN
Defence Editor
THE grief-stricken parents of a Military Cross hero killed by the Taliban said last night: "He was everything we could ever have wanted in a son."
Dad-of-three Sergeant Mike Lockett - honoured by the Queen last year for supreme bravery - died "doing a job he was born to do with his 'boys'."
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/StonedSOD/SNN2305D-180_894449a.jpgProud soldier ... Mike Lockett
Mum April and dad Mal fought back their tears to declare: "We are immensely proud."
His devastated regiment admitted: "There is now a gap in our ranks that will be so very difficult to fill."
The acting sergeant, 29, became the 217th British soldier killed in the Afghan horror when a roadside bomb he was investigating exploded in the Gereshk district of Helmand
He is the first Military Cross holder to fall in battle in living memory.
Just like in 2007 - when his selfless courage saving wounded comrades went down as one of the most outstanding rescues of the Afghan war - the Scot was leading from the front to safeguard his platoon.
Inspiration
Back then he selflessly dashed back into a killing zone three times to pull FOUR ambushed men from certain death. He was honoured for "unshakeable bravery".
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/StonedSOD/SNN2305E-180_894448a.jpg
Bomb victim ... dad-of-three Mike
Mike, known as "Locky" to his men in 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment, said after the Queen pinned his medal on him: "You've got guys out there - and you're not leaving them."
The soldier, from Monifieth in Angus, was killed in Helmand on Monday. Proud partner Belinda English she said of his sacrifice: "For Queen and country."
Mike's former wife Natalie Lockett was yesterday comforting their children, Connor, eight, Chloe, seven, and Courtney, five.
Mike, a veteran of Bosnia and Northern Ireland, was nearing the end of his third tour of the Afghan badlands in two years. Because he had vast local knowledge he had volunteered to stay on to brief replacement troops.
Two fellow soldiers were injured in the cowardly bomb blast.
Company commander Major Bob Moorhouse said: "Sergeant Lockett's raw bravery and selflessness cost him his life but undoubtedly saved that of one his soldiers." Lt Col Simon Banton hailed Mike a "true hero". Private Alex Sheridan - one of Mike's men - saluted him as an "inspiration".
The last Military Cross holder killed on operations was SAS Major James Stenner - victim of a 2004 car crash in Baghdad.