Cornwall Military Cross hero reunited with soldier she saved
- Published
Kate Nesbitt is shown running across open ground to John List who is lying wounded
A hero navy medic has been reunited with the soldier she saved while they were under enemy fire in Afghanistan.
Chief Petty Officer Kate Nesbitt won the Military Cross, Britain's second highest military medal, for her dash to save L/Cpl John List's life in 2009.
L/Cpl List was shot in the neck during a patrol and CPO Nesbitt, then a medical assistant, ignored bullets and rockets to reach him.
The pair met again at the unveiling in Cornwall of a painting of the rescue.
Kate Nesbitt: "Very proud" to be at the portrait unveiling with John List
CPO Nesbitt, the second woman in the Armed Forces to receive the Military Cross, was 21 at the time of her life-saving run, having finished her training at HMS Raleigh, the naval training base where the unveiling took place.
She dressed L/Cpl John List's neck wound and kept him from losing blood in Marjah district in Helmand.
She said: "I can't remember what was going on at the time. My job was to get to John and be his medic and get to his side as quick as I could.
"I don't see myself as brave, just doing my job."
Artist Nick Bashall was commissioned to recreate the moment on canvas
The painting, by Nick Bashall, hangs in the chapel at HMS Raleigh opposite a portrait of Jack Cornwell, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for staying at his gun aboard HMS Chester during the Battle of Jutland in 1916.
"It's amazing seeing the painting," she said.
"It seems a lifetime ago but I'm very proud to be here alongside John List."
A scar where John List was shot is still visible on his neck
Mr List, who now works in Bude, Cornwall, as an outdoor activities instructor, said: "We were patrolling across open ground and we were ambushed on three sides.
"I got hit straightaway by the enemy.
"All I remember is Kate getting to me, telling me that everything was going to be fine."
The bullet went through his lip and tongue and exited through the right hand side of his neck, leaving permanent scarring.
"I would have died without a doubt if Kate hadn't done what she did," he said.