British Troops Receive Medals For Service On UN Peacekeeping Mission

British troops deployed on Operation TOSCA - the British contribution to a UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus - have received medals for their service.

Personnel from 27 Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps are nearing the end of a six-month tour.

They have been patrolling the 112 miles of the buffer zone which has divided the island since 1974.

Recognised for their service on Operation TOSCA, they were handed medals by the Commander of UN forces in Cyprus, in a hangar at Nicosia's abandoned international airport.

For many of the soldiers, it has been their first overseas tour, and a first operational medal.

Private Benjamin Daley, 27 Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, said: "yeah, first medal, first tour. I am happy to go on a tour and get my first medal. Of course the chance doesn't come around a lot."

They are due to head home in April, to be replaced by reservists from 7 RIFLES and 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

Around 1100 personnel from more than a dozen nations make up the UN force on one of the world's longest peacekeeping missions.

UK troops have been wearing the blue beret here since the mid-1960s - several hundred of them are stationed on the island at any one time.

Currently, there is a high number of women serving across the UN in Cyprus - both police and military.

Private Lizzy Norris, Combat Medic attached to 27 Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, said: "it's really nice. We've got a female Argentinian doctor up at one of the other sites that we work with.

"It's really nice being able to chat to her and learn from her experiences as a female in the army but a different army to ours."

Although a peacekeeping mission, troops can still face danger with mines still commonplace in some areas of the buffer zone.

Nearly 200 UN soldiers have been lost their lives on the mission through the years.

With negotiations on the future of the island stalled, an end to the Cyprus problem remains a long way off, with British troops likely to be here for some time.