Hero is awarded MBE for service

Oct 23 2008 by Mari Jones, North Wales Weekly News

A WAR hero soldier from Conwy has been awarded an MBE for “selfless dedication, boundless enthusiasm and commitment”.

Colour Sergeant Bryn Knowles, 41, received an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours list for service as Drum Major/Platoon Commander and Operations Warrant Officer 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment.

His citation in The Times read: “As commander of the Corps of Drums and through hard work, long hours of practice, boundless enthusiasm, selfless dedication and commitment he has inspired the Corps of Drums to reach the highest level of accomplishment, proficiency and dedication.”

A former Ysgol Aberconwy pupil, Bryn joined the Army as a 16-year-old straight from school.

He first joined the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment and while there carried out an emergency tour of West Belfast in 1987 where he suffered injuries when his armoured Land Rover was blown up in an IRA ambush. In 1989 he volunteered for a two-year post as a specialist arms and explosive search dog handler and after training was posted to the Maze prison in Northern Ireland.

In 1996 with the Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters Regiment – now the 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment – Bryn served in war-torn Bosnia as one of the peacekeepers.

“We spent six months living in an old disused mine complex, which was horrendous in itself but coupled with the heat of the Bosnian summer and dust from the mine was not a pleasant experience,” he said.

“I was sent back to Bosnia in 1998 serving again as a peacekeeper, it was a winter tour this time and the cold, snow and extreme low temperatures was difficult to live with.”

Bryn married his wife Sian in 2001 at St Paul’s Church, in Colwyn Bay, and they have a three-year-old daughter, Megan.

He has also served many tours in Afghanistan, the worst coming March of last year when he was deployed with his regiment in Helmand province.

“It was the most intense six-month tour the Battalion has ever undertaken since its formation,” he said. “Nine of my men were killed in action and a dozen seriously injured.”

On receiving the MBE Bryn said: “It was a fantastic day. Prince Charles awarded it to me and I had quite a talk with him as he had recognised me as we’d met in Belfast where the battalion is now based.

“My wife, mum, brother and daughter attended the ceremony, it was a proud day for me.”