| Citation: | Cyprus. Citation: Warrant Officer Class I Nicholson was the senior member of the Royal Military Police, based in Famagusta during the period 20th and 22nd July 1974, when over 4,000 dependants and tourists were evacuated into the Sovereign Base Area.On 21st July he displayed great personal bravery and calmness during an extremely dangerous phase of the operation. Early that morning, on his own initiative, he made a personal reconnaissance of the area scheduled for evacuation and discovered that it was the scene of a fierce fire fight. Later, after armoured personnel carriers had been called forward to evacuate the people living in the area, Nicholson alloted himself the role of guide. To carry out this task he rode in the lead Saracen with the top half of his body completely exposed so as to be able to guide the driver. In all he made three runs into the area ferrying out families. The last two of these runs were made in the face of uninterrupted cross fire, but at no time did Nicholson move from his exposed position. On arrival at the houses to be evacuated he moved about calmly in full view of both opposing sides comforting, directing and assisting the families into the Saracens.There is no doubt that his personal bravery and coolness were the prime reasons which enabled the operation to be carried out with only one casualty. |
