75 ‘Operational Medals’ will be presented to sailors from Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose tomorrow after they were ordered at short notice to sail to Sierra Leone to help in the international fight against Ebola.

Aviators and engineers from 820 Naval Air Squadron (NAS), who served on Operation Gritrock, will be recognised for their efforts at a medals parade on Thursday.

The squadron, who deployed at very short notice, were away for six months. As well as flying 300 sorties, delivering much needed aid to the communities of West Africa, they also managed to raise a large amount of money for the ‘EducAid’ charity.

Three Merlin MK2 helicopters and 80 personnel from 820 NAS joined RFA Argus on its deployment to Sierra Leone in October 2014. During the mission, the team supported the construction of six Ebola Treatment Centres by delivering much needed stores, people and medical supplies to inaccessible areas.

Also, to enable RFA Argus to deliver reactive medical cover for personnel working in the country, the squadron provided an alert aircraft for casualty evacuation. This alongside a busy daily flying programme meant that the engineering team had to provide 24 hour cover with each man working a gruelling eight hours on/eight hours off shift pattern for the entire deployment.

Another success was the delivery of food relief to the isolated Sherbro Islands which had been cut off from the mainland due to strict infection control laws - subsequently the inhabitants were facing starvation. Over two days, the 820 team delivered in excess of 200 tonnes of food aid by flying over 100 under slung load missions. As a result enough food aid was provided to feed the 9,000+ inhabitants for over a month.

The medals will be presented by Miriam Mason-Sesay (the Country Director and Principal of EducAid Schools) who is flying in from Sierra Leone the night before the ceremony. Miriam worked with 820 NAS during the deployment and runs a network of free secondary schools in Freetown for vulnerable young people. For more information on EducAid, please visit www.educaid.org.uk

Commander Ross Spooner, Commanding Officer of 820 Naval Air Squadron is delighted that his Squadron will be recognised for their efforts in West Africa, he said: "Over a six month period, our team delivered vital equipment, supplies and food packages to remote areas of Sierra Leone. We also managed to raise about £70,000 for EducAid which should help local school children even though we have left the country.”

“I am hugely proud of our direct contribution in the fight against Ebola, it was very rewarding to see the number of new cases falling whilst we were deployed to the region. The aid that we delivered was really appreciated by the local communities and without our versatile Merlin helicopters, it would have been really difficult for the teams on the ground to reach the more remote areas.”

Commander Spooner also paid tribute to the support from the families: “The personnel from 820 were tasked at very short notice, to a place which was at the time, full of uncertainty and fear. Although we had all undergone a great deal of training and the risk of us contracting the Ebola virus was low, it was a very frightening time for some families. I must thank them for their support during this and our other recent overseas deployments.”

Ever in demand, personnel from 820 Naval Air Squadron are currently deployed on operations in the Gulf, proving the versatility of the personnel and their state-of-the-art Merlin helicopters.