Salisbury Plain soldiers honoured by city of Liverpool
They've been helping out with a mass coronavirus testing programme.
2,000 troops, including those from four Salisbury Plain regiments have been working in Liverpool for the last month.
They've carried out 200,000 rapid Covid tests in that time - testing about a third of the population there.
As a thank you for their hard work, they've now been given the highest civic honour possible - the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.
Soldiers from Tidworth's Kings Royal Hussars and Royal Tank Regiment, as well as 19 Royal Artillery and 26 Royal Artillery from Larkhill, have been working on the project.
Every member of Army personnel involved will be getting a commemorative coin for their efforts.
A scroll's been handed to the Commander of the programme - Brigadier Joe Fossey - reading:
"At the height of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in November 2020, The Associated Regiments of the British Army led by 8 Engineer Brigade on behalf of Standing Joint Command (United Kingdom) were assigned to support the City of Liverpool in its fight against the pandemic in co-ordinating and providing mass testing across the city. The city acknowledges the fantastic contribution of all personnel in such difficult and unprecedented times and thanks them all for their outstanding leadership."
The testing programme in Liverpool is credited with helping to bring down the Covid-19 infection rate locally from a peak of 680 cases per 100,000 people to under 100 within just six weeks.
It was also a deciding factor in helping the area move from Tier 3 to Tier 2 following the latest lockdown.
Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Councillor Anna Rothery, said:
"We are bestowing the highest civic honour on the regiments involved in the testing pilot because of the huge contribution they have made to our communities during their time here.
"The City of Liverpool has a long and deep-rooted association with the Armed Forces, and we are tremendously proud of the contribution made by service personnel, both here and abroad, to communities that need their support."
Brigadier Joe Fossey says it's come as a bit of a shock:
"We're very touched and it's evidence of just how warm the recognition has been throughout our time. The soldiers are thinking 'we weren't expecting that'!
"I think if your measure of success of any pilot programme is in how you can quickly test, adjust, and then deliver in different cities and different ways, I think then this has been enormously successful. This is just the start of the asymptomatic testing journey and we're mighty proud to have been involved at the start."