BLOODY HEROINE; Medic wounded in Taliban blast stays to aid 7 comrades.

Byline: CHRIS HUGHES

ARMY medic Sally Clarke ignored Taliban bullets and pain from shrapnel wounds to treat seven comrades asthey lay wounded.

With hot shards of metal in her back she worked grittily to staunch the men's bleeding and bandage them up.

She then refused an airlift to base because she would not leave the patrol without a medic.

The 2 Rifles heroine was with a unit trying to tackle an anti-tank mine south of Sangin when they were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades. L Cpl Clarke had shrapnel in her shoulder and lower back.

Seven others were hurt. The worst had extensive shrapnel wounds to his upper legs, buttocks and an arm.

L Cpl Clarke forgot her pain and set about treating them single-handedly.

She said: "I ran to the most seriously injured first. I saw Cpl Paul Mather had taken wounds to his left bicep and had very bad shrapnel wounds across the lower part of his body. There was a fist-sized hole through his skin."

She applied field dressings and a tourniquet then helped to move them to the helicopter landing site to be flown out.

Despite being entitled to get on the flight, she refused.

She said: "My injuries were not bad enough to go to the hospital. I was the only care medic there at the time.

"I couldn't leave them on their own - I came out here to support the troops on the ground and give them medical care when they needed it most." L Cpl Clarke, from Cheltenham, Glos, was patched up when she got back with the rest of the patrol.

Cpl Mather, 28, was also determined to continue his role as forward air controller, guiding aircraft from his stretcher during the incident in June.

He recalled: "I had a hole in my left bicep so I was given a field dressing and tourniquet to stop the blood flow."

The MoD said yesterday: "L Cpl Clarke showed the bravery and stoicism for which the British Army is renowned. She has every right to feel proud."