Iraq war hero Johnson Beharry, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for saving 30 of his comrades while also surviving being shot in the head twice, is in talks with Netflix and Fox Film over a film telling his incredible story.

The father-of-two faced a troubled start to life, growing up in poverty in Grenada before joining a gang and dealing drugs when he moved to London at the age of 19.

But he managed to turn his life around after joining the British Army in 2001 and in 2005 he became the first soldier in 18 years to receive Britain’s highest honor from the Queen for bravery – the Victoria Cross.

Lance Sergeant Beharry, 40, of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, told The Sun: ‘It’s so humbling. I don’t mind who plays me. I’d like it to be true to my life.

‘For those who didn’t come back, and for my colleagues there with me, I’m going to be working with the scriptwriters. My life is a fairytale and proof that if you work hard you will achieve amazing things and you can turn things around.’

The biopic would be an adaptation of his book, Barefoot Soldier, which told of how the married father grew up in poverty in the Caribbean, turns to gangs in the UK and then turned his life around in the British Army.

Beharry was awarded the Victoria Cross, having carried out two individual acts of heroism while serving in Iraq in 2004, saving the lives of his platoon.

On May 1 2004 he was driving a Warrior Tracked Armoured Vehicle which was hit by multiple rocket-propelled grenades.

His platoon suffered multiple casualties and while his head was exposed to fire, Beharry drove the Warrior through the ambush to safety and still under fire, extracted his wounded comrades.

He required brain surgery for his injuries and underwent intense treatment to recover, learning how to talk, walk, and eat again.

He was still recovering in April 2005 when he was presented the Victoria Cross by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.

Receiving the award, Beharry said: ‘Maybe I was brave, I don’t know. I think anyone else could do the same thing’.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk