2016 UK queen’s birthday honours recognise 154 military and civilians in UK Defence

Service personnel and defence civilians are to be awarded honours for their work keeping Britain safe.

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2016-06-12

113 UK service personnel have been granted state honours by UK Queen in the annual birthday honours list.

Amongst them is Major Andrew Todd of the Royal Gurkha Rifles who helped rescue climbers from Mount Everest following a massive earthquake in Nepal last April. He was deputy leader of the G200 Everest Expedition, the attempt to put the first serving Gurkha on the summit to mark the 200th year of Gurkha service to the Crown, when the quake struck on 25 April causing an avalanche on the mountain which killed 22 climbers.

Canterbury-born Major Todd and his fellow Gurkhas, many of whom had families in devastated regions, stayed to help rescue people from the mountain and help the clean-up operation. He said:

“What we did was no different from what any soldier would have done. We stayed because we are British soldiers and that’s what they do. We had a duty to do what we did.”

Others listed include RLC Reservist Major Carol Miller, for her dedication as Unit Welfare Officer to the 3,500 staff, soldiers and families at ATC Pirbright, on cases from suicide and domestic abuse to chronic debt and homesickness, and WO1 James Lang of the Royal Army Medical Corps, recognised for his support to the 1 PARA battle-group in Iraq on Op TELIC, fusing his infantry experience with his combat medic skills.

41 civilians have also been honoured either for work in UK Ministry of Defence or in other aspects of UK Defence, including scientists Justin Fellows and Martin Greenstreet, of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

Justin Fellows is a lead scientist in novel and improvised explosives, influencing government policy on air passenger safety in the UK and with our allies, and the technical lead in creating the UK Home Made Explosives centre of excellence. Martin Greenstreet leads a world-class team of scientific and engineering specialists providing complex, bespoke technical solutions to meet specific operational requirements.

Source: UK Ministry of Defence

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