Afghanistan, September 6, 2006.

The Parachute Regiment is on a ridge overlooking the Kajaki Dam, Helmand Province.

They spot an illegal Taliban roadblock being used to extort money from travellers and send out a sniper patrol to dispatch the blackmailers.

In a dried-out riverbed en route, Lance Corporal Stuart Hale detonates a land mine, which blows his leg off.

Corporal Mark Wright is a mile away when he hears the explosion.

Without thinking of the danger to himself, he quickly forms a patrol to run to Lance Cpl Hale’s aid.

To their horror, the ten men soon realise they are trapped in an unchartered minefield, a relic of the 1980s Russian invasion.

Each single step is a game of life and death.

What followed was the longest six hours of the soldiers’ lives, and the last hours of Corporal Wright’s life.

If it sounds like a dramatic film script, that’s because it is.

But it is also a true story.

Kajaki: The True Story tells of the rescue mission.

That day will live forever in the mind of Kirkburton-born Paul Hartley who, as a Lance Corporal in the Medical Corps, was one of the handful of soldiers sent in to help the patrol.

Click below to see the trailer for the film.

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Seven men were injured, and Paul, along with others, emerged as a hero and was awarded the George Cross by the Queen for his actions.

Last week he attended the world premiere of the film at Leicester Square with his brother, Michael, who still lives in Kirkburton.

And on Monday Paul and his family will attend the preview at Vue in The Light, Leeds.

The film, a debut by director Paul Katis, is already receiving five-star acclaim from reviewers and will be on general release through Vue cinemas from Friday, November 28.

The part of Paul is played by Mark Stanley, of Game of Thrones fame, and Paul said it was a surreal experience seeing himself portrayed by the actor.

He said: “The film is as true as you are ever going to get it. They have nailed the banter and made a fantastic film.

“It shows the other, living side of the military, rather than guys running round with guns and grenades.”

He added that the film had made him feel emotional and very “proud and honoured” to have served with such outstanding men.

When Paul left Shelley High School, he had only one thought in mind: to follow the family tradition and join the Army.

After six years in the Royal Engineers he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 2003, where he was trained to be a military paramedic.

Three years later and on his third tour of Afghanistan came the fateful “Day of Days,” as it has since become known.

He said: “We saw some horrendous things that day. It was my third tour and I was pretty chilled out but what took me by surprise was that nobody had experienced the aggression we found out there this time.”

After the explosion, the rescue team prod the ground to clear a path from the casualty to an area where a helicopter could land, and another corporal is blasted by a land mine.

Finally the helicopter arrives, but it’s a Chinook, not the winch craft they’d requested.

As it left without the men, the down draft triggered another mine, and Corporal Wright suffered the brunt of it.

Paul crossed the minefield to reach him by throwing his backpack forwards and jumping on to it.

He did this eight times but as he reached Cpl Wright another mine went off, injuring both men.

Paul suffered injuries to his chest, arms and legs. He also suffered blast lung which caused breathing difficulties.

He treated the badly-wounded Cpl Wright, who sadly died on the American rescue helicopter which arrived several hours later.

Cpl Wright was honoured posthumously with the George Cross.

Paul said: “I was thinking: ‘It’s my son’s birthday tomorrow, what am I doing in a minefield?’

“Once you accept you are going to die, you are able to move more freely. It really was more luck than anything else that I got out.

"I had walked on some of those mines that other people detonated.”

Although modest about his own bravery, Paul paid tribute to Cpl Wright’s courage and leadership saying: “He was the bravest man I ever knew.

Paul, 34, now lives in Hereford with his wife, Dawn, sons JJ, 12, Ewin, eight, and Mikey, five.

He trains ex-soldiers to work as bodyguards in Iraq and other hostile environments.

Paul, actor Mark Stanley and Giants star Eorl Crabtree will all be attending the Leeds preview. Funds raised at the premiere and special screenings will be donated to four military charities.