rvival against the odds.

Lance Corporal Martyn Compton suffered horrific burns to 75 per cent of his body when his armoured vehicle was blown up by a Taliban.

He was then shot twice in the leg as he scrambled away from the burning wreckage.

As he lay on the ground, his colleague Corporal Of Horse Andrew Radford thought he was an enemy soldier and raised his rifle to shoot him.

Heroes: Martyn Compton (left) with Andrew Radford and Martyn’s family: Michelle, Archie, five, and Coral, four

CoH Radford realised his mistake just before he squeezed the trigger and dashed through enemy gunfire to carry his comrade to safety.

On their return to the UK, Lance Cpl Compton lay in a coma for three months and his saviour was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for his heroics.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the attack, Lance Cpl Compton took his wife Michelle, 36 and their two children Archie, five, and Coral, four, to meet the man who saved him.

‘If it wasn’t for Andrew I wouldn’t be here today, I wouldn’t be married to Michelle and I wouldn’t have my beautiful children,’ he said.

‘While Andrew may have been just about to shoot me, I’m grateful that happened, as the reality is, if he and his commanding officer hadn’t been looking down their rifle sights, they would never have seen me in time and I’d have died there that day.

‘The words ‘thank you’ are so inadequate, it just isn’t enough to express the depth of my gratitude that he saved me.’

CoH Radford, 34, said Lance Cpl Compton, 32, came close to death four times and described his survival as ‘miraculous’.

‘I never thought he could possibly live after the horror he went through,’ he said. ‘But you never leave one of your own behind. That’s unthinkable. To see how he has rebuilt his life with his family is just wonderful.’

Lance Cpl Compton’s life changed for ever on August 1, 2006, after the attack in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

Crouched in the wreckage of his armoured vehicle, torn apart by a roadside bomb which had 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed his three comrades, he watched as a Taliban fighter aimed a rocket-propelled grenade directly at him.

It hit the engine block inches from his head, showering him with flaming debris and leaving him on fire and in ‘indescribable pain’.

Under enemy fire he crawled 100 yards to reach cover, suffering horrific burns as his body armour melted on to his skin. He was shot in the leg before he could drag himself behind a low wall.

Lance Cpl Compton, from Staplehurst, Kent, said: ‘[There were] too many Taliban to count, armed with machine guns.

Martyn and Michelle Compton seen here before Martyn went to war

‘RPG’s came over the walls on both sides and as I reversed backwards from the ambush an IED (improvised explosive device) was detonated beneath us.

‘I’d suffered third degree burns to 75 per cent of my body, my kit had melted into my skin and the rest of my clothes were just rags.

‘I just remember bullets flying around me and I was shot twice in my leg. I crawled as far as I could from the remains of the vehicle, and when I managed to reach a low wall I lay there.’

CoH Radford was scanning the area for the Taliban fighters through the scope of his rifle and admitted he almost shot his comrade from the Household Cavalry.

‘He was so terribly disfigured you could barely tell it was him – but in the milliseconds before I’d fired he’d waved towards us,’ he said.

‘It was literally the pressure it takes from a finger on the hairpin of the trigger from obliterating him. In that second it took me to lower my rifle, I knew I was going to go and get him.’

‘Everyone has told me the incoming fire was relentless, but I was so transfixed on getting to Martyn that apart from firing my own rifle as I moved forwards, everything else faded out. All I could hear was the sound of my own heart beat and my rifle.’

After his six-month tour, he received his medal at Buckingham Palace from the Queen who asked him: ‘How is Martyn doing?’

His citation read: ‘He deliberately put himself in harm’s way to rescue a fellow soldier. He showed an almost superhuman effort to rescue Trooper Compton.

‘It is this act of selflessness, conspicuous gallantry and bravery in the face of a well-coordinated and sustained enemy ambush that merits public recognition.’

Lance Cpl Compton has left the army and has launched a career as a racing driver with his new company Martyn Compton Racing and is looking for sponsorship.

He and fellow veteran Mark Allen, a double amputee, aim to become the first disabled veterans to compete at the Le Mans 24-hour race.