UK troops make significant contribution to Ebola fight
This weekend saw the return of 105 UK and Canadian military personnel from Sierra Leone.
Corporal Hayley Needes adjusts her mask as she puts on her personal protective equipment.
Military medics from 34 Field Hospital deployed for three months and were recently welcomed back to the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Strensall, York.
They were part of a team of 100 regulars and reserves from all three services, including 18 members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), who have been treating patients in Sierra Leone, caring for healthcare workers who have contracted the disease themselves.
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Reynolds, who commanded 34 Field Hospital, said:
We are all happy to be back in the UK but quite sad to leave such a beautiful and welcoming country and its people.
All of us made a significant contribution” to the effort to stamp out the illness it was “truly a combined operation” with the CAF.
The UK military deployed to Sierra Leone in September last year as part of HMG’s response to the Ebola outbreak. For a number of months, the operation in Sierra Leone was the largest deployment of UK military personnel anywhere in the world.
There are now approximately 150 personnel in country.