IT was an amazing moment and the highlight of Lieutenant Commander Brian Meadows' 35-year naval career when he came face to face with the man who's life he saved nine years ago.

Brian defied his mum, Catherine Manniex's wishes when as a 15-year-old he joined the Royal Navy in 1968 after leaving Bedford High School.

Twenty-one years later he passed out as a Sub Lieutenant in a ceremony attended by Diana Princess of Wales and in 1998 became a Lieutenant Commander.

But his biggest and proudest experience came while he was managing the Navy bobsleigh team and competing in the 1993 British Championships in Laplagne, France.

An RAF two-man bobsleigh was involved in a nasty accident which left RAF pilot Martin Whitehead unconscious. Brian rushed to help Martin. He wasn't breathing but Brian gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation a total of seven times while his severe injuries were assessed by paramedics.

That was the last Brian saw of Martin and he had no idea what followed.

Martin was taken to hospital where he was in a coma for 12 weeks. He then spent two years in rehabilitation before re-training to continue as an RAF fighter pilot.

In January this year Brian, who now lives with his wife and 14-year-old daughter in Wales, was contacted out of the blue by the BBC who wanted him to help film Martin's story for TV documentary series 999.

Different hotel

Brian explained: "I was flown out on a separate plane and stayed in a different hotel so we could surprise Martin. We were filming at the actual track where the accident happened, exactly nine years earlier. Martin was walking through the story and when he reached the spot where he had landed I was there to surprise him.

"It was very emotional. It was wonderful to see him, considering last time I saw him he was in a bit of a mess, and to meet his wife and find out they had since had two sons. He's now training to be a pilot with British Airways."

Brian, who is due to retire just after his 50th birthday in February, uses the accident as a training scenario for teaching first aid, and says of everything he has experienced in his 35 years in the Navy, nothing has come close to his reunion with Martin.

"The day of the accident was nothing special, it was all in the line of duty. It was meeting Martin again nine years later that made it all seem real -- that was definitely the highlight of my career."

Martin's story, featuring Brian playing his own role, will be screened next month on BBC 1.