SOLDIERS from the North-East who have risked their lives in Afghanistan were back in the region for a military ceremony yesterday.

Fifty-four officers and soldiers from 35 Battery, 39 Regiment Royal Artillery paraded in front of friends and families to receive their operational service medals.

They were handed out by Colonel Paul Lane, the Commander of 1st Artillery Brigade, at Albemarle Barracks, Harlow Hill, in Northumberland.

He said: “I would like to congratulate everybody on parade for a job really well done. It is a great honour for me to come and present these medals and I do so on behalf of the Queen.”

The battery has been providing fire support for 19 Light Brigade in Helmand Province since April this year.

The gunners have been replaced by soldiers from the regiment’s 132 Battery which is known as The Bengal Rocket Troop.

Lieutenant Eleanor Bailey, 26, who joined the Army as an officer after studying geography at Durham University, said: “This is the culmination of a year’s obsession with Afghanistan including six months training and six months tour. This is the moment when people say ‘well done and thank you for what you have done’.”