Legacy Matters

"The bravest and most courageous man I have ever met"

British Soldier killed defusing 65th bomb

A British soldier responsible for making safe 64 bombs during five months in Afghanistan, died as he tried to defuse another.

Staff Sgt Schmid, born in Cornwall, lived in Winchester with his five-year-old stepson and wife.

Christina Schmid said: "Oz was a phenomenal husband and loving father who was cruelly murdered on his last day of a relentless five-month tour.

"The pain of losing him is overwhelming. I take comfort knowing he saved countless lives with his hard work."

" His courage was not displayed in a fleeting moment of time; he stared death in the face on a daily basis,"  Lt Col Gareth Bex

Michael Yon on Great Britain loses one of its finest

His crew was competent and confident, and worked faster to clear bombs than any I had seen.  If not, the soldiers could never have completed this mission, because there simply were too many bombs.  They say all beekeepers get stung, but these are not bees.  These soldiers were facing an extraordinary number of bombs and booby-traps that are designed to kill the team.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Thomson, commanding officer of 2 Rifles Battle Group, said: "Staff Sgt Oz Schmid was simply the bravest and most courageous man I have ever met."