'Lucky' soldier's mother 'in shock'

Private Leon "Willy" Wilson was proclaimed the luckiest soldier in the British Army when a bullet tore through his helmet and narrowly missed his head.

Jennifer Hughes said: "He rang me and said 'I'm OK mum but I've been shot through the head' - I was in a state of shock that he had come so close."

Mrs Hughes, of Knutsford, Cheshire, said: "I'm grateful he's alive and yes, I'd like him home but it's what he does and we all know what they go out there for. I'm very proud of what he does. I wouldn't have it any other way, it's what he's always wanted to do, ever since he was a little boy."

Pte Wilson, 32, said he was left without a mark after the round tore through his helmet and missed his head by an estimated two millimetres. The Territorial Army soldier, on attachment with 2nd Battalion of the Mercian Regiment (Worcesters and Foresters), was knocked flat on his back by the impact of the shot.

Pte Wilson had been manning a machine gun during a fierce battle with the Taliban in Helmand Province on April 10 when he was hit by the 7.62mm AK47 bullet, said the Ministry of Defence.

The father of three from Manchester said: "I took my finger off the trigger when the shot hit my helmet. I was knocked clean off my position and landed on my back. I had my eyes shut."

He asked another private next to him if he had been shot. "He was just staring at me in amazement and swearing and said 'yes'," Pte Wilson said. "The medic was looking queasy - I don't think anyone wanted to take my helmet off."

The soldier, who is a self-employed electrician when not on active duty and has two daughters and a son under the age of 10, was back in the thick of the fighting within an hour after finding a new helmet. and is continuing his duties in Afghanistan.

His commander, Captain Rob Agnew, dubbed his the "luckiest Private" and added: "Willy's a good lad - and a good soldier."