British troops on leave in Las Vegas during the mass shooting have revealed how they ran through screaming crowds to save the wounded.
Speaking for the first time since the massacre on Sunday night, they said used pillows, tea towels, belts and their shirts as makeshift tourniquets to stop the injured bleeding out as dead bodies lay around them.
In an emotional interview, Trooper Ross Woodward, 23, said he used his army training to try and save a man who had been shot in his back but he tragically died as he was holding his hand.
Six troopers from the Queen’s Dragoon Guards were in the city on the night gunman Stephen Paddock killed 58 people in the largest mass shooting in modern US history.
Ross Woodward, 23, said he used his army training to try and save a man who had been shot in his back but he tragically died
People scramble over barriers to get to safety as the gunfire rages on at the Las Vegas event
The British troopers had been taking part in desert training in Nevada and were on leave in the city drinking and visiting casinos at the time.
They were split between the Hooters Hotel and the Tropicana Hotel, close to where the concert was taking place.
Last night the men, who are yet to go to war, described the horrifying scenes as they rushed to the scene to help the wounded and save lives.
Trooper Woodward, from Nottingham, was walking towards the Tropicana Hotel from a casino when he heard gun shots and screams.
Speaking from the US before their flight home, he said: ‘At first we just believed it was fireworks and then there was chaos. Everyone was screaming the ‘gun man’s coming’.
He said he started finding casualties, adding: ‘Someone had been shot and I was trying to find the exit wound. He was just saying it was difficult to breathe.
Trooper Woodward (pictured in his civvies), from Nottingham, was walking towards the Tropicana Hotel from a casino when he heard gun shots
‘I tried to help him but he kept telling me ‘I can’t breathe’, he was getting more and more panicked.
‘He died while holding my hand.’
Trooper Woodward went on to save three people who had been injured.
In another case he used a tourniquet and a tea towel as a field dressing. Then he helped a woman in a wheelchair who had been shot in the back.
He added: ‘The training kicked in, and we went straight into action.
‘I wouldn’t consider myself a hero – I just think any soldier would have done the same in our position.’
His younger brother Curtis Dyer, 22, said the actions reflected the character of his sibling, who is originally from Beeston, Nottinghamshire, and had been training in the US with the British Army.
Mr Dyer said: ‘He is the type of the person who would do it anyway, he’s always there to help people when they need his help, the Army always brought out the best in him.
His younger brother Curtis Dyer (pictured together), 22, said the actions reflected the character of his sibling
Investigators are still processing the festival site-turned-crime scene. The FBI warned in the press conference on Wednesday that it would be some time before all of the evidence that was being collected was properly examined
‘He’s caring, he loves his job, he’s quite family-orientated.
‘He just looks forward to going away with the army, he looks forward to the free time afterwards, as you can imagine the Army work their balls off to protect us.
‘It just like it happened by fate.’
His composure in the face of an attack which left 59 dead and more than 500 injured filled his relative with pride.
‘I’m dead proud of what he’s done, that he was able to do it,’ Mr Dyer said.
‘At least when it came to something like that he was there to help.
‘Britain’s keeping America safe more than anything else over there.’
As MailOnline revealed yesterday, Trooper Stuart Finlay, 25, who was with Trooper Woodward at the time, rushed to help a woman who had been shot in the small of her back and saved her life.
Trooper Stuart Finlay, 25, rushed to help a woman who had been shot in the small of her back and saved her life
He said: ‘I applied pressure with towels from an apartment and tied a shirt around her.
‘I maintained the pressure for some 10-20 minutes. I like to think I saved her life. I kept telling her she would be okay, that everything would be okay.
‘I kept the conversation going.’
He went on to help a woman who had been shot in both legs, then made an improvised splint for a woman who had a broken leg.
He added: ‘We ran towards where it was, running through the people who were running past us screaming. It was an instant reaction.
‘We were just glad we could help.’
Trooper Chris May, 24, who was also with Troopers Finlay and Woodward, identified himself to policemen and was tasked to help the FBI.
He helped a man who had been shot in the head and applied pressure to the wound with a gauze before medics arrived before helping a woman who had been shot in the ankle.
He said: ‘A woman appeared with her husband. When she arrived I had a quick look over her and she had a gunshot wound to her ankle.
‘The round has gone straight through and she was bleeding severely.
‘She was in shock, her husband said ‘Help her, help her, she’s going to die’.’
He added: ‘There was complete panic, everyone was running through doors, screaming, just trying to get away.
‘They believed someone was chasing them. We were trying to get everyone in the hotel.
‘It was a pretty terrible thing to be part of.’
Trooper Dean Priestley (left), 28, from Wales and Trooper James Astbury (right), 22, from Ruthin, North Wales in Hooters restaurant when the incident started and people burst into the restaurant
Trooper Dean Priestley, 28, from Wales, was with Troopers James Astbury and Trooper Zak Davidson in Hooters restaurant when the incident started and people burst into the restaurant.
He said: ‘You are never off duty. You always have this level of professionalism about yourself, where you feel like you should help, you should be there to help people.
‘You have got the background, you have got the training to help people, so why wouldn’t you.’
Trooper Astbury, 22, from Ruthin, North Wales, said: ‘I hope we saved lives, I like to think we did what we could.’
Squadron Commander Major Ben Parkyn said of his men: ‘I’m extremely proud of what these guys did. It was a pretty extraordinary thing to be faced with and their actions were pretty extraordinary.
‘These are junior lads who had not done operational tours but behaved in the exactly the right manner when confronted with the situation.’
In another remarkable story of bravery, a British fireman who was celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary with his wife saved dozens of concert-goers during the massacre.
MailOnline also told yesterday how Tony Dumbleton, from Exhall, Warwickshire, was enjoying an evening walk with his wife Lucy, 43, on their first visit to America when they heard shooting.
Tony Dumbleton, from Exhall, Warwickshire, was enjoying an evening walk with his wife Lucy (pictured together), 43, on their first visit to America
First responders and bystanders carry an injured person to an emergency station located at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Ave – one block north of the shooting
The fireman sprinted towards the shooting and dragged some of the injured to safety. The 43-year-old then used his first aid skills to apply bandages to their bullet wounds.
Mr Dumbleton, who has worked for the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service for 18 years, said: ‘I have dealt with a lot of trauma during my time in the fire service but never gunshot wounds.
‘It’s different because in the fire service you can be called to an incident and that’s traumatic but then finding yourself in one – it’s surreal.’
Another military man who bravely helped drag the injured to safety was Taylor Winston who ‘stole’ a truck from the parking lot after finding the keys in the ignition and used it to transport two dozen patients to local hospitals.
Winston, who joined the Marines at 17 and served two tours in Iraq before leaving in 2011, described the massacre as a ‘mini war zone’ but realized ‘we needed to get them out of there regardless of our safety.’
Taylor Winston ‘stole’ a truck from the parking lot after finding the keys in the ignition and used it to transport two dozen patients to local hospitals
The van was left covered in blood after Winston rushed seriously injured festival goers to hospital
He told CBS: ‘I started looking for people to take to the hospital. There was just too many and it was overwhelming how much blood was everywhere.’
‘People started scattering and screaming and that’s when we knew something real was happening,’ Winston said.
‘The shots got louder and louder, closer to us and saw people getting hit, it was like we could be hit at any second.
‘Once we got to the fence, I helped throw a bunch of people over, and got myself over. It was a mini war zone but we couldn’t fight back.’