ONE of Merseyside’s most senior military figures is leaving the area to embark on an African mission.
Lieutenant Colonel John Davies has been the commanding officer of Royal Marines Reserve (RMR) Merseyside for the last three years and presided over some landmark achievements.
Now Lt Col Davies, 47, is to take up a key role in the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in the West African state of Liberia.
He will be the operations officer, working directly to the military commander of the mission’s 16,000- strong multi-national force.
The Falklands War veteran, who lives in West Derby, will be based in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, for his six-month stint.
He said: "It’s an opportunity I was keen to take. I’ve not worked for the UN before and I volunteered for the job because you never know if you’ll have the opportunity again.
"The overall aim is to maintain peace and stability following the Civil War until the Liberians are in a position to look after those things themselves. I’ll be responsible for operational plans, and I’m sure it will be very different from anything I’ve done before."
One of the highlights of his time in charge of RMR Merseyside was organising a major training exer- cise in the Falklands for nearly 100 Royal Marine Reservists at the end of last year.
Lt Col Davies was badly injured in the conflict in 1982 and returned to the islands in 2006. He completed the journey from Ajax Bay to Port Stanley, that his injuries a quarter of a century earlier had cut short.
Around 80% of RMR Merseyside’s 150 fully-trained members have been deployed on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years.
Lt Col Davies said: "That’s one of the things I’m most proud of – the quality of training the guys receive is the same as their full-time counterparts and I’m proud we have been able to supply high- quality people when we’ve been asked to."
Lt Col Davies was also responsible for rescuing a Falklands-era landing craft from the historic warships collection in Birkenhead after the trust which owned it went into liquidation.
The landing craft, fully restored with its tiger stripes camouflage, now stands in the car park of the unit’s headquarters.
He added: "I’ve enjoyed every minute of my time at RMR Merseyside and I’m going to make every effort to come back to Liverpool in some capacity."
The UN set up its mission in Liberia in 2003 after the country had been wracked by two civil wars.
