British Military Officers Honoured At Buckingham Palace

A Royal Air Force officer has received an OBE in recognition of how he led the military's response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Group Captain Jason Davies and his team were tasked with removing the nerve agent from the city, which included destroying contaminated objects, following the attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in March 2018.

Around 200 personnel were involved in clearing areas across Salisbury of Novichok after it was confirmed by Porton Down that a military-grade nerve agent was used in the attack.

Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury in March 2018, they had both been poisoned with the nerve agent.

Personnel had the task of entering, clearing and decontaminating the public and private properties affected, both in support of the Police investigation and to make the sites safe for return to normal use.

Two unconnected local people, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, were also exposed to the agent.

Dawn Sturgess later died from the poisoning. 

Gp Capt Davies will receive his honour from the Prince of Wales at a royal investiture ceremony on Thursday at Buckingham Palace.

Also among those honoured there was Major Nicola Wetherill, from the Royal Army Medical Corps, who led the British Army's Ice Maiden team to become the first all-female group to cross Antarctica using muscle power alone.

The team had to ski 1700km, whilst pulling a sledge weighing up to 80kg, battling 60mph winds and temperatures as low as -40°C.

Of the 250 women who applied, six made it through to the final selection.

The Ice Maidens smashed their own target of crossing the ice in 75 days, completing it in just 61 days - two weeks early.

In preparation for the gruelling challenge, the Ice Maidens spent countless hours dragging tyres in order to simulate the 80kg pulks they took with them across the ice.

It was a challenge that had only previously been completed by one other woman, the explorer Felicity Aston in 2012.