London, Apr 20 (ANI): A Brit soldier is being called the luckiest in the army after he survived a gun shot, which hit his helmet, but missed his head - by only two millimetres.

Private Leon 'Willy' Wilson from Manchester was knocked flat on his back by the impact of the shot while he was on attachment with 2nd Battalion of the Mercian Regiment (Worcesters and Foresters) in Afghanistan.

But, the 32-year-old Territorial Army soldier said he was left without a mark after the round tore through his Mark 6a helmet, made from several layers of Kevlar armour.

And now, defence bosses have declared him "officially the luckiest man in the British Army".

The Ministry of Defence revealed that the incident occurred on April 10, when Wilson had been manning a machine gun during a battle with the Taliban in Helmand Province and was hit by the 7.62mm AK47 bullet.

"I took my finger off the trigger when the shot hit my helmet. I was knocked clean off my position and landed on my back. I had my eyes shut," Sky News quoted him as saying.

In fact, Wilson, who is a self-employed electrician when not on active duty, had to ask another private next to him if he had been shot.

And he was back on the front within an hour after finding a new helmet.

The gun battle started after British and Afghan soldiers - who had just destroyed an insurgent bomb factory - were fired on after sheltering overnight in a compound.

Pte Wilson's commander Captain Rob Agnew dubbed him the "luckiest private", and added: "Willy's a good lad - and a good soldier." (ANI)