Laurie Sams — affectionately known as Truck — can’t help himself from helping others.

The former Special Air Service Regiment soldier will head to Canberra tomorrow to receive an Order of Australia Medal from Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove for his services to veterans and their families and to the sport of parachuting.

It will sit alongside the Star of Courage Mr Sams received in 2001 after he saved his tandem skydiving partner’s life by rolling over to take the full force of impact after a parachute malfunction.

He lost his left leg from the knee down in the accident.

But in what was supposed to be a quiet coffee trip to Garden City Shopping Centre yesterday, Mr Sams again leapt into action when he saw a man allegedly about to assault a young female David Jones store worker.

The offender, believed to be in his late teens, had been followed by the shop assistant after she saw him taking items from the fragrance section. He had his arms raised and appeared to be ready to attack the young woman when Mr Sams intervened.

“Laurie raised his voice to say, ‘What are you doing?’ to the man and he came in with his fists,” Mr Sams’ friend Merle Oates said.

“He started laying punches and Laurie went into fight mode because he’s got the training. He laid a few punches on the young guy as well.”

The offender managed to break free, but Mr Sams believed his intervention kept the man at the scene long enough for security cameras to capture images of him.

“It was just a feeling I needed to protect someone ... the girl called me a hero,” Mr Sams said.

“I got a bit of a lump behind the ear and a bit of bruising around the cheekbone, but I’m OK.”

Mr Sams has ridden tens of thousands of kilometres through Australia, Vietnam and Thailand to raise money and awareness for war veterans.

He is also in training for another 10,000km ride across the United States next year as part of his campaign to support veterans suffering the hardship of post-traumatic stress disease and similar mental injuries.

The 70-year-old said he was saddened to see the type of poor behaviour among young Australians that he witnessed yesterday.

“I’ve been watching the news recently and seeing these young kids doing what they’re doing,” he said.

“It breaks my heart to see it happen in our society.”