Soldiers from the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Task Force receiving their Afghanistan campaign medals from Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Mr Tim Stevenson
[Picture: Graham Harrison, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
The occasion was marked with a parade by the returning soldiers through the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire and they were presented with their medals by Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Mr Tim Stevenson.
Didcot is home to 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, where the disposal experts within the C-IED Task Force come from.
Brigadier James Cowan, the Commander of Task Force Helmand, recently said:
"The men and women of the C-IED Task Force are an extraordinary group of people.
"Selflessly committed to their dangerous work and utterly professional, there isn't a soldier in Task Force Helmand who doesn't hold them in the utmost respect for what they do and the way they do it.
"I am deeply proud to have them serving as part of my brigade, saving military and civilian lives day-in and day-out. They are some of the true heroes of this campaign."
Tragically, Captain Daniel Read, Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, Corporal Loren Marlton-Thomas, Warrant Officer Class 2 David Markland, Corporal James Oakland, Sapper Guy Mellors and Sapper David Watson, all from the C-IED Task Force, lost their lives in Helmand over the last six months.