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Posted on 05/23/2007 5:56:59 PM PDT by SandRat
Five military personnel were presented with medals for gallantry in Afghanistan during 2006 by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace today, 23 May 2007.
Amongst the five presented with their medals today were Captain Catherine McWilliam, a Nursing Officer with the UK Field Hospital at Camp Bastion. She received the Associate Royal Red Cross Medal for her professionalism, compassion and care for the sick and wounded under her charge.
Over 70 UK Servicemen and women were honoured in the Honours and Awards list made public in December 2006 for their role in operations in Afghanistan.
The other recipients of their award today were Captain Tim Illingworth from the Rifles, Royal Marine Major Mark Hammond and the RAF's Flight Lieutenant Craig Wilson and Flight Lieutenant Christopher Hasler.
Captain Catherine McWilliam received her Associate Royal Red Cross Medal, for her role in leading a young team on their first operational deployment in austere conditions and an extreme climate. She led, taught and supervised her staff in caring for a wide spectrum of patients including Afghan civilians with varying injuries.
Complex social and cultural challenges made her job even more difficult but over a 5 month period she demonstrated inspirational leadership and nursing skills of the highest order resulting in the recognition of her meritorious service.
Flight Lieutenant Craig Wilson, an RAF Chinook pilot received the Distinguished Flying Cross for 'exceptional courage and outstanding airmanship' while operating in Helmand Province.
On the night of 11 June 2006 he was tasked to recover a casualty from a Landing Site. In difficult and dangerous conditions despite having done little night flying in Afghanistan he made a precision approach and landing to extract the casualty. A few hours later on another mission in the same area he was tasked to another high risk area. Despite being low on fuel he made another difficult landing before returning to base with just enough fuel to remain airborne. Then despite having been on duty for over 20 hours he volunteered to deliver reinforcements to help a threatening ground situation. His gallantry and extreme and persistent courage ensured the recovery of two badly wounded soldiers and played a vital role in saving their lives.
Flight Lieutenant Christopher Hasler, also an RAF Chinook pilot received the Distinguished Flying Cross for 'displaying great courage and composure in a most demanding and high risk environment' while operating in Helmand Province.
On 7 July 2006 Flt Lt Hasler while operating in the Sangin area elected to land in an 'unlikely site' to achieve surprise in an area where the enemy were operating. Delivering stores and troops he landed in a site surrounded on three sides by buildings. To allow another aircraft into the site he was required to position the spinning rotor blades just above a single story rooftop – any error would have almost certainly resulted in catastrophic damage to the aircraft. On 14 July on another sortie Flt Lt Hasler demonstrated tremendous bravery and commitment when skilfully landing his aircraft while under small arms and rocket propelled grenade (RPG) attack thus allowing troops to disembark and reinforce other ground troops already under significant threat from Taliban forces.
Lieutenant (now Captain) Tim Illingworth received the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for 'inspiring and raw courage from a relatively young and inexperienced officer' while operating in the Garmsir area of Helmand Province.
On 10 September 2006 Captain Illingworth, while operating with the Afghan National Army, was involved in two days of heavy fighting whereby he was called upon to personally lead an attack when the Afghan Army Commander had been killed. His inspirational leadership in trying to recover the body of his fallen comrade, an act of high cultural significance, and his bravery over a period of several days was deemed to be well beyond the call of duty.
Major Mark Hammond, a Royal Marine Chinook pilot serving with the RAF received the Distinguished Flying Cross for 'inspirational command of his crew and his superior flying skills' while also operating in Helmand Province.
On the night of 6 September 2006 he was tasked to effect a casualty rescue from Sangin. While carrying out the evacuation his aircraft was engaged by rifles and machine gun fire which he managed to avoid by skilful flying. On completion of that task he was then sent to Musa Qala for another casualty evacuation but on this occasion his aircraft sustained a number of hits and he had to abort the mission. On return to Camp Bastion, without hesitation he climbed into a spare aircraft and returned to Musa Qala successfully landing and extracting the casualty despite further machine gun and RPG attacks directed towards him and his crew. Major Hammond remained calm and dedicated throughout all three incidents which would have been sufficient to shake most men.
FR WAR NEWS!Regards to our faithful allies, the Brits.
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