Positivity: Royal Marine ’sacrificed his life to save boy’

From the UK — The plane crash involved took place in 2004, but one man’s heroism in placing a young man’s life above his own apparently was only revealed a couple of weeks ago:

Last Updated: 1:49am BST 31/07/2007

A teenager survived a plane crash when an Army major shielded him with his body as the aircraft nose-dived, an inquest heard yesterday.

Daniel Greening was strapped to Royal Marine instructor Mike Wills when the light plane’s engine failed as they took part in a charity skydive in Devon.

As it plummeted, Major Wills sacrificed himself by putting his back to the metalwork and taking the brunt of the impact - shielding the 16-year-old boy with his body.
An inquest in Exeter was told that rescuers had found Major Wills still alive at the scene, but that he died four hours later in hospital after emergency surgery.

Mr Greening was left in a critical condition but survived and made a full recovery.

It emerged yesterday that he later joined the Air Training Corps and is now training to become a commercial pilot.

Four people died, and two survived, when the single-engine Cessna crashed into a field near Honiton in June 2004, shortly after taking off from Dunkeswell airfield.

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