Fallen SAS soldiers' families honoured

The families of two Special Air Service soldiers killed in Afghanistan were presented with the New Zealand Memorial Cross on 31st March 2012.

The Memorial Crosses were presented to the families of Corporal Doug Grant and Lance Corporal Leon Smith by Prime Minister John Key at a private ceremony at SAS headquarters at Papakura Military Camp. The medal is given to family members of personnel who lose their lives during, or as a result of, operational service outside New Zealand.

Grant was shot by the Taliban while attempting to free captives held in the British Counsel offices in Kabul on 19th August 2011. Smith was killed on 28th September 2011 after being struck by a Taliban bullet while securing a compound in Kabul.

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SAS Lance Corporal Leon Smith

33-year-old New Zealand SAS Lance Corporal Leon Smith was killed in action on 28th September 2011 in Wardak province, Afghanistan. The Special Air Service trooper was shot in the head during a contact with enemy forces. He had served with the SAS since 2008 and had spent 11 of the past 24 months on combat operations.

He was part of an operation assisting Afghan police targeting an insurgent group planning an attack on Kabul. He was shot while watching over the cordon. He was evacuated by air and taken to a nearby base, but died on the operating table.

L-Cpl. Smith was an advanced medic and was first on the scene when SAS soldier Corporal Doug Grant was killed on 19th August.

Lance Corporal Smith’s family say he died doing what he loved.

NZ SAS Corporal Doug Grant

New Zealand SAS Corporal Doug Grant, age 41, was killed in action in Kabul on Friday 19th August 2011 during an operation at the British Council buildings.

Cpl. Grant, known as "Dougie", was evacuated by helicopter but died from gunshot wounds on the way to a military hospital at Bagram.

Cpl. Grant, from Linton, had spent 21 years in the New Zealand Defence Force, serving with an Infantry Regiment and with Engineers before joining the Special Air Service. He had actually left the SAS so that he could spend more time with his family but had volunteered to serve in Afghanistan.

He had served in East Timor twice, the former Yugoslavia and was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.

He leaves behind his wife Tina, their seven-year-old daughter and their five-year-old son.

New Zealand SAS soldier killed in Kabul

A New Zealand special forces soldier died after being shot in the chest while attempting to free hostages trapped in the British Council Cultural Centre in Afghanistan.

The New Zealand Defence Force has confirmed that the man was shot in the chest and died on the way to hospital on Friday 18th August.

The soldier has been named as Corporal Doug Grant

Australian soldier killed in action

Trooper Jason Brown has become the 18th Australian soldier to lose his life during operations in Afghanistan.

Twenty-nine year-old Trooper Brown from the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds sustained during an engagement with Taliban insurgents early on Saturday August 14, Australian-time.

Trooper Jason Brown, SAS

Members of his patrol provided immediate first aid and he was evacuated by helicopter to the major coalition medical facility in Kandahar. 

Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of his mates and the coalition medical staff, Trooper Brown died from his wounds.

No other Australian or Afghan soldiers were wounded in the engagement.

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Click here to see listing of all Australian military fatalities

Australian SAS Sergeant, Matthew Locke, killed in action

Sgt Matthew Locke, SAS

Sergeant Matthew Locke, MG serving with Special Air Service Regiment in Uruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan was killed in actionon Thursday, 25 October 2007. 
 
Sergeant Locke was on a patrol when fatally wounded by small arms fire from Taliban extremists.
He was involved in Operation Spin Ghar, which directly supported an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan National Security Forces operation to target and clear Taliban extremists from the area around Tarin Kot, in Uruzgan province.

Continue to Australian Department of Defence release

Australian SAS Sergeant Andrew Russell

SAS Sgt. Russell

Thirty-three-year-old Sergeant Andrew Russell, from the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment, has been killed in action in Afghanistan. 

Sgt. Russell suffered fatal wounds on 16th February, 2002 when the long-range patrol vehicle in which he was travelling struck a suspected anti-vehicle mine.

He was one of five Australian personnel travelling in the vehicle, but was the only person wounded in the explosion.

Combat Search and Rescue helicopters were launched from Kandahar 13 minutes after the task group headquarters was notified of the incident at 11.58pm Australian Eastern Summer Time.

Despite the efforts of a three-member US military rescue team, who parachuted into the scene to stabilise him in preparation for evacuation by helicopter, he was pronounced dead after arriving at a United States medical facility in Kandahar.