British marine played hoax on media

On March 27, British newspapers reported four bullets had ripped through the outer camouflage of British Royal Marine Eric Walderman helmet during a firefight in Umm Qasr, an account seized upon by the foreign press. (AP Angie Pearce, Ministry of Defense, pool)
LONDON (AP) - A Royal Marine commando was dubbed the luckiest soldier in Iraq after apparently surviving four sniper shots to the head, thanks to his bulletproof helmet.

But it emerged the so-called brush with death by the "miracle marine," dramatized in newspapers worldwide, was a hoax. Britain's Ministry of Defence, which carried the photo of Eric Walderman wearing a bullet-ridden Kevlar helmet on its Web site, said it, too, had been duped. "It was a good one and fooled us as well," the ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

On March 27, British newspapers reported four bullets had ripped through the outer camouflage of the 28-year-old commando's helmet during a firefight in Umm Qasr, an account seized upon by the foreign press.

The truth emerged Tuesday when The Sun tabloid disclosed that Walderman's helmet was in fact lying on top of his pack when it was peppered with gunfire by colleagues trying to hit an unexploded anti-tank weapon.

"Mr. Lucky was not so plucky," said The Sun's headline. Walderman, it said, had simply posed in the damaged helmet. He hadn't given an interview, "but he and his pals did nothing to stop journalists jumping to conclusions," the paper reported.

The marines "came clean" about the hoax after The Sun contacted the unit for a follow-up story, it said.