Major’s delight at receiving his MBE
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AMAJOR in the Royal Engineers from Runcorn has been made a Member Of The Order Of The British Empire (MBE) at Buckingham Palace.
Maj Edward Patrick Thompson was presented with the honour last Wednesday, as the Weekly News was going to print.
The former Heath schoolboy joined The Army in 1983 when he was 18 years old, having applied to be a gunner soldier when he was 16, only to be told his application was late.
He worked for two years in Astmoor and re-applied.
Nearly four decades on, his career has spanned the globe and tours of duty including the crisis in Kosovo, Bosnia, The Falklands and Afghanistan, where the Corps Of Royal Engineers (RE) took its place in the vanguard of learning to deal with the threat from improvised explosive devices (IED) and where Maj Thompson served as the officer-in-command for the counter-IED operation.
He completed four tours in Afghani- stan and the work took him to forward operating bases and Helmand Province.
His service has covered the diverse gamut of tasks in the RE such as bridgebuilding, IED clearance and demolitions and these skills were in demand from other units such as the Paratroopers.
Now a quartermaster, he is looking forward to promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and completing his service at Catterick Barracks with retirement due in 2020 after 37 years of service. `Eddie’ Thompson moved to Runcorn as a boy in 1977 after his father left The Army.
Maj Thompson never looked back on his chosen career and dedicated his MBE to his family including wife Pat, with whom he lives in Runcorn, and who has shared the challenge of living with six-month tours. He said: “It’s for the family. “I’ve been in a long time, 35 years, and I’ve been away most of my career.
“It’s (an Army career) not for everyone but I was a round peg in a round hole. “I really enjoyed it. “The MBE is the proudest thing. “I’ve got a lot of medals but that’s the pinnacle of my career and I say it’s a family reward.”