Tony Jones

An RAF serviceman who ran through a hail of enemy gunfire to rescue a fatally wounded colleague became the first airman to be awarded the Military Cross yesterday.

Corporal David Hayden, 29, received the honour from the Queen at Buckingham Palace and dedicated the bravery medal to members of his squadron.

The citation for his honour stated how he repeatedly "showed the most outstanding courage" and his bravery was of the "very highest order". After the investiture ceremony, Cpl Hayden, from Spalding, Lincolnshire, said: "I'm no hero, I'm hardly a hero, I was just doing my job and got recognition. If anyone's a hero it's the lads that have passed away and their families - they're heroes. They're dealing with a lot more than I'm dealing with."

The airman was recognised for showing outstanding gallantry when 1 Squadron RAF Regiment came under attack as they were out on patrol in the Iraqi village of Al-Waki, near Basra last August.

When Leading Aircraftman Martin Beard was fatally wounded, Cpl Hayden, who was second in command of a sub unit of B Flight, ran with a colleague to move him into cover and fired back at Taliban fighters - killing one.

The citation for his honour stated: "Without a second thought for his own safety, Hayden volunteered to carry the injured man out of the fire fight. He dashed across open ground under a hail of enemy small arms fire. Hayden ran fully upright with the man on his shoulders to safety, having been exposed to enemy fire for the whole distance."

Cpl Hayden said: "At the end of the day it's all about teamwork. There wasn't just me on the ground that day, there were another 40 blokes who seemingly did as much as I did. There is no I' in team, we are one big team and I dedicate this to all the lads in 1 Squadron RAF Regiment."

The RAF's non-commissioned ranks have only been eligible for the Military Cross since 1994, previously they would have been awarded the Military Medal. The incident was the first major foot patrol battle involving the RAF Regiment since UK forces arrived in Iraq in 2003.

Cpl Hayden described how on the day of the ambush he was slightly away from the squadron's main group. He was with other airmen providing support, if needed, while his colleagues chatted with local stall holders in the centre of the settlement.

The airman said: "The first we knew of anything going down was when we got a call about a man. We then moved back to the market area to meet up with the rest of the squadron.

"On our way there we effectively got ambushed by the insurgents and unfortunately that's when Martin got shot."

Describing the moment he carried his dying friend to safety while being shot at he said: "It was more a case of he's one of my lads' and I wanted to get him out of there and I wanted to get him to medical aid as quickly as possible.

"That's all I was thinking about, not what was going on around me."