HE won the Victoria Cross for battlefield bravery in the Iraq War and now it has emerged Sergeant-Major Johnson Beharry turned hero again back home by rescuing his neighbours from their burning house.
The 45-year-old, whose valour 20 years ago this week earned him his medal, fought through flames to an upstairs landing to help four panicked children, a grandmother and two more adults down stairs and outdoors to safety.
He was then able to brief fire crew arriving to fight the blaze and tell them which of the rescued group needed help for smoke inhalation.
Thanks to his action all had escaped without serious injury.
He even had the presence of mind to grab car keys from the house and move vehicles away from the danger zone before leaving fire-fighters to do their work.
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Modest Johnson has only now revealed the 2021 incident, on a quiet housing estate near Watford, as he spoke exclusively to The Sun.
He said: “I heard an explosion, saw the fire and had to help.
“I was out with my family. The neighbours’ house was on fire. There was fire everywhere. It started in a car in the garage, worked its way into the kitchen and up into the house.
“My main concern was the four children. The fire was going up the stairs right next to them. They had understandably frozen.
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“I got to them. I couldn’t take them all at once but I got them away from the house, in the opposite direction to where the wind was blowing, on the side of the road.
“I gave them all water. I asked an auntie [rescued from the fire] to stay with them and keep them calm.
“Then I went back into the house. By then my concern was the grand-mother because she didn’t want to leave because she was looking for her dog, which I’d found out was safe.
“I went back in and got the keys for the cars — there were about five — and moved them from the drive.
“When the fire service arrived I briefed them and stood back as they put out the fire. I’m pleased I was around because it would probably have been a different story today had I not been.”
Dad-of-three Johnson has not seen military action since his two acts of heroism in Iraq in May and June 2004 — the second of which left him with serious head injuries. But he still undertakes ceremonial and non-active service for his Princess of Wales Royal Regiment.
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He said: “I’m not on the battlefield any more but I feel like I am in the battlefield in general life. You never switch off, whether you are in Iraq or in a quiet housing estate in the UK. You are always a soldier.
“I just did my job as a soldier 20 years ago, as I did that day [of the house fire]. I am proud and honoured that I received the VC. I am proud to be a soldier.”
The Grenada-born Brit hero also now has his own charity — the JBVC Foundation, in reference to his name and medal — which helps kids who have ended up in gangs, and maybe jail, and works to save others from the same fate.
Only last week, two 12-year-olds were convicted of a machete attack on 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai in a Wolverhampton Park, making them the UK’s youngest ever knife murderers.
Johnson believes better education is needed to curb the violence on our streets.
He told The Sun: “I would love to see more done to educate children on knife crime. We should educate children as young as nine, by getting into schools and telling them what to be careful of.
“People may not want their children spoken to about such subjects but it would be preventative.
“The Army has taught me about discipline and it sets you on a good path. Being a soldier will be part of me for ever. That is why I will never stop helping people.”
He became the first recipient of the Victoria Cross — the British Armed Forces’s highest honour for valour — for almost 50 years when he was presented with it by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005.
The Warrior armoured vehicle driver had twice rescued fellow soldiers from enemy ambushes in the city of Al-Amarah in south east Iraq, under fire from rocket-propelled grenades.
The Army has taught me about discipline and it sets you on a good path.
On the second occasion he suffered severe shrapnel injuries to his face and brain yet was still able to steer out of the firing line before losing consciousness.
Johnson, who was this year promoted to Warrant Officer Class 2 (Sergeant-Major), said: “I remember everything of the first occasion but hardly anything of the second. I have become more aware of what happened as years have gone by and people have given me details.
“At the time I was just getting on with what I thought was the right thing to do. When you are under this level of pressure, it is easier to give up than try to fight through. I managed to fight through on both occasions.”
Johnson, married to Mallissa and father to son Ayden, 11, daughter Aniyah, seven, and son Amari, three, added: “It is such an honour to be awarded the VC.
“Ayden now knows everything I’ve done. He even recently told a group of Canadians while on a trip to France that his dad had the VC.
“That was nice. When he was little, though, he used to hold my medals and wasn’t that interested in the VC. He preferred the more shiny ones.”
ENGULFED IN FLAMES
Johnson’s battlefield days are now long gone but he quickly sprang back into action to tackle his neighbour’s fire in September 2021.
Johnson, who had been out with his wife and then baby Amari, said: “We walked to post a letter and were going to do the school pick-up when I saw smoke in the air about 150 yards from our house.
“I said to my wife, ‘It’s a bit early for someone to be having a BBQ’ then I heard an explosion and saw this column of fire.
“I was carrying my baby in his casket and said to my wife, ‘Take him inside?’ I jumped in the car and drove to my neighbour’s house. It was immediately clear it was on fire.”
Johnson dashed into the house and saw the family standing at the top of the stairs, which by now had become engulfed in flames.
He recalled: “There was a parrot screaming. The kids were between six to 11, I’d say. I got all the kids out, and the adults, and took them to safety. The last person I got was an older lady, a grandmother, and she wouldn’t get out because she was looking for her dog. I said to her, ‘If you don’t get out, you won’t be here tomorrow’. I eventually got her out after finding out the dog was safe and she sat in one of the cars all shaken up.
“Then the fire service came. I told them who I thought had problems after smoke inhalation. I gave them water and made sure they were OK.
I jumped in the car and drove to my neighbour’s house. It was immediately clear it was on fire
“After a little while the fire crew realised who I was and invited me to the station.
“I had come out from the burning house and no one knew who I was. They must’ve been thinking, ‘Who is this crazy guy running in and out of the house asking where the car keys are and moving the cars?’.
“I was talking to a neighbour and told them I am a soldier and had been in similar situations before. They said, ‘What do you mean?’ Most people have not been through what I have.”
After the fire was finally put out the family were all checked over by medics and none had suffered serious injury.
Johnson added: “The evening after it happened the family came over to my house with boxes of chocolates and said, ‘Thank you so much, you saved our family, you saved our house’. I said, ‘We are neighbours and we have to look after each other’.”
Johnson was also at the D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations in France this month and spent time talking to veterans of the 1944 operation.
He said: “It was wonderful to spend time with amazing people who gave so much for their country. I always feel very honoured to be among that company. It was very emotional.”
- lTo learn more about the JBVC Foundation go to jbvc-foundation.org.uk
