A shop worker hero who saved the life of a woman having a heart attack in a Croydon store has joined the Army as a combat paramedic.

Edward Wentworth-Shaw, 28, is hoping to be on the battlefields of Afghanistan saving the lives of soldiers early next year.

The father-of-three was nominated for a Croydon Champions award this year when he resuscitated 66-year-old Moya Perry when she went into cardiac arrest at the tills.

The Marks and Spencer employee kept her alive until an ambulance arrived to take her to hospital.

He said he has always wanted to be in the Army and signed up at the Pirbright barracks some months ago.

He said: “I will be flying out to Afghanistan when I have finished my training, medics are in demand there at the moment.”

He has joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and will be working on the frontline, helping soldiers injured in the line of duty.

He is a trained paramedic but said the pressures of working on a battlefield are different to what he is used to.

“There is more morphine involved, you have bullets flying over your head as well, it is a different type of training.”

At the moment he is training hard to get his physical fitness levels up to par and has quit smoking.

He said: “I have joined the 300 elite in the Army, we run a mile and a half in under eight minutes.

“I love my job at the minute, it is something I have always wanted to do.”

Mr Wentworth-Shaw said his family were fully supportive of his decision to go to war.

He has a nine-year-old son and two daughters aged seven and four.

He said: “They are very proud of me. There are a lot of people going over to Afghanistan at the moment and they are proud that I am going to be a part of that.

“It’s the best job in the world.”

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