British soldier given Danish award for Helmand bomb bravery The joint force was raiding a compound where Taliban bomb makers had hidden hundreds of pounds of homemade explosives. While the team searched the compound, Sgt Rene Brink Jakobsen detonated a bomb when he knelt down on the rooftop, leaving him with terrible injuries. WO1 Peat was only 5 yards away and took charge as he and others applied tourniquets and got ready to evacuate the wounded man. As they prepared to get him off the roof, he realised the area was riddled with other bombs, including another one under Sgt Jakobsen. He said: "The bomb had blown him into a wall and he bounced off that wall onto another device. "There was a bit of disturbed earth and I saw the wire and I said: "I think Rene is on something, we need to stay still."" He dug under the wounded man to disable the bomb, but they could still not get him off the 14ft high roof because another bomb blocked their route. WO1 Peat lay down to shield the bomb with his body so that no one could accidentally kick it as they took him away. WO1 Peat, from Edinburgh, said everyone had remained calm throughout. "I said: "If we don't mess with these things we are safe. Take your time, get it right and get off the roof."" Everybody knew what needed to be done. After Sgt Jakobsen was evacuated, WO1 Peat cleared a path for the other Danes to get off the roof and then had to lead five Afghan policemen to safety after realising they too were within inches of a bomb. "Had I not had a great bunch of lads on that roof that night, the outcome might have been very different," he said. Sgt Jakobsen, also 39, died of his wounds leaving a widow and three children. WO1 Peat has now become the first non Danish soldier to be presented Denmark's Anders Lassen Award. His citation for the award, which commemorates a Victoria Cross winning Danish solider from the Second World War, praised his "extraordinary courage and determined actions." The award was presented by Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik at the Royal Danish Military College in Copenhagen. WO1 Peat donated the accompanying £3,000 to Sgt Jakobsen's widow, Camilla. Lt Col Claus Wannen, head of the Danish special forces, said: "The foundation grants people who have made an extraordinary effort and we're very picky about who we want to actually have the award. Andy Peat made an extraordinary contribution. On that tragic day he proved his worth and it's most likely he saved a number of lives that evening.