LONDON, England (AFP): A Grenada-born British Army private awarded the country's highest bravery medal for saving the lives of dozens of comrades in Iraq has received a more lucrative reward for his heroism, a report said Sunday -- a massive deal to publish his autobiography. Johnson Beharry, a 25-year-old serviceman, will receive an advance of a million pounds (1.8 million dollars) for the book after a bidding war between publishers, The Sunday Times said. Beharry was presented with the Victoria Cross by Queen Elizabeth in April, the first soldier to receive the medal since two were given posthumously during the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina. He is the first living soldier since 1965 to receive the distinction, created in 1856 to honour soldiers of the British Empire during the Crimean War who showed particular gallantry in the face of enemy attack. Beharry, who only arrived in Britain in 1999, earned the Victoria Cross for two separate acts of valour under fire in the town of Amara, near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, last year. In the first, he was struck by bullet fire while guiding an armoured convoy through a major ambush in May. A month later, he rescued more soldiers but suffered serious head wounds in an assault by a rocket-propelled grenade that left him in a coma. According to the report, Beharry's book, "Bare Foot Soldier", will also chronicle his poverty-stricken upbringing on the Caribbean island as one of eight children, the title referring to his long walk to school as a youngster. The advance will provide a financial cushion for the private, whose future in the military is uncertain due to his injuries, the paper added. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com