Slain SAS soldier to get heroism award

Lance Corporal Leon Smith was killed near Kabul. Photo / supplied

The family of an SAS member who risked his life trying to save a fallen mate in Afghanistan before being killed in action just six weeks later will tomorrow receive a bravery award on his behalf.

Governor General Lieutenant General Sir Jerry Mateparae will posthumously confer The Charles Upham Award for Bravery award on Lance Corporal Leon Smith at a ceremony at Government House in Wellington tomorrow.

Corporal Smith braved enemy fire when he ran across open ground to reach a comrade who was fatally wounded during an insurgent attack on the British Council Office in Kabul on August 19 last year.

Although Corporal Smith was able to get to fellow SAS soldier Corporal Doug Grant and give him first aid, he later died of his injuries.

Corporal Smith was killed in action on September 2 during an operation in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, at a compound suspected of housing Taleban bomb-makers preparing for an attack in the capital.

He was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Commanding officer Colonel Chris Parsons spoke at Corporal Smith's funeral of a determined man who braved gunfire and ran, "quick as a cat'' to be reunited with his shot comrade.

Corporal Smith, 33, left behind his mother, grandmother and two brothers in Wellington, and his father and grandparents in Tauranga.

His brother Darryl will receive the award tomorrow on behalf of the family.

They declined to comment ahead of the ceremony but will release a brief statement tomorrow.

The Charles Upham Award is made annually to a person deemed to have performed the most outstanding act of heroism at risk to their own life.

Nominations are called from the defence force, police, fire service, Civil Defence and the public.

Lance Corporal Smith is the 24th person to receive the award and the fourth member of the New Zealand Defence Force.

The SAS were deployed in Afghanistan for two-and-a-half years, returning in April.