Phil Beacall
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Status: Offline | PRINCE HARRY MY CALL OF DUTY
PRINCE HARRY MY CALL OF DUTY
He reveals at The Sun’s Military Awards: I’m ready for Taliban
PRINCE Harry has confirmed he will take on the Taliban a second time — and says he "can’t wait".
Harry let slip his excitement at The Sun’s Military Awards gala, where he joined brother Wills and sister-in-law Kate to honour our Forces heroes.
As The Sun revealed in June, the Prince is due to return to Afghanistan some time next year.
And he told guests at our glittering ceremony in London: "I can’t wait to get out there."
Harry, who served as an air controller in the war zone four years ago, has completed his Apache helicopter pilot training in the US.
He said it was "tough" but added: "I’m looking forward to putting it into practice."
HEROINE Michelle Ping told yesterday of her "amazing night" as she was given a warm hug by Prince Harry.
The brave paramedic said the Prince was "brilliant" as he sat next to her at The Sun’s glittering Military Awards gala.
Modest Michelle, who picked up the Best Reservist gong, added: "At one point he put his arm around me and I remember thinking, ’Prince Harry has got his arm around me — and I’m just Michelle Ping from Sheffield’."
Able seaman Michelle, whose normal patch is Leeds, was hailed by the 27-year-old Royal for saving a critically-wounded soldier while under a blizzard of Taliban fire in Afghanistan. She said:
Harry came up to me almost as soon as he arrived and said, ’Hi Mitch — you’re sitting next to me.’
I couldn’t believe he knew my nickname. It was just amazing.
He’s just one of the boys, one of the soldiers, really down to earth. I asked him how his nan was and what he was doing for Christmas. He said, ’We’re just having the usual, a family get-together.’
Then I asked him what he was doing for New Year and he said, ’I’ll probably have a quiet one.’
Being sat next to Harry was overwhelming. He was very normal. There was no pomp and ceremony about spending the evening with a Prince. He was so nice.Close_quote
Michelle, 37, added he was "hoofing" — Marine-speak for amazing. The pint-sized medic, a former Navy helicopter engineer, told how she thought she had "goofed" when she told Harry of her excitement at meeting singer Peter Andre at Monday night’s gala.
She said: "At one point when I came back to the table I was really excited and told Harry, ’I’ve just met Peter Andre!’
"He just rolled his eyes and said, ’So, are you a fan of his?’ I realised what I’d said and thought, ’I just can’t believe I told Prince Harry I’d met Peter Andre’."
Michelle, who was presented with her award by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, broke down in tears as she was given yet another big surprise by The Sun.
She was joined on stage by the soldier she saved, Highlander Craig Patterson, and his grateful loved ones.
Craig — shot in the head while manning a gun post on a compound’s roof — walked to greet her on sticks. He suffered a brain injury that affects his movements but said: "Michelle saved my life, definitely."
His mum Alison, 50, hugged the paramedic and said: "It’s amazing to meet you. I can’t describe how much we owe you."
Craig’s weeping girlfriend Louise Dalgarno, 20, added: "Thank you so much. We owe you everything."
Michelle, described by top brass as a lioness protecting her cubs, sobbed as she replied: "Oh my God, this is the best day of my life. I’m so happy to meet you both."
Holding her award aloft, she called it "incredible" and added: "Words can’t describe how I feel right now. Talking here tonight is harder than facing the Taliban.
"Thank you so much but I would give a million of these awards for Craig to be completely better. He’s amazing and a friend for life. He’s a stubborn Scottish b***er."
Steely Michelle — called "Mother" by squaddies — sprang into action after the compound was attacked and she heard: "Man down!"
She said: "I just got straight up on the roof. He had been shot in the head and there was a lot of blood. I thought he was dead at first and thought, ’How am I going to tell the boys?’ Then I remember thinking, ’I’m not going to have this’. I just shook him. As this was going on the Taliban were shooting at the roof.
"I could see the splash marks from bullets landing by my head.
"I couldn’t hear anything, my focus was on him. I got the boys to get him down off the roof and I patched him up."
Craig was put on a stretcher. And Michelle, who signed up for the reserves after leaving the regular Navy in 1998, helped soldiers to run him to safety over half a kilometre of rough terrain.
Thesun.co.uk
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