Flight Lieutenant Robert Roger Bate Truscott an RAF Provost Officer

[Nemesis]

M.B.E ( Military ) & GSM 1918-1962 clasp Cyprus ( 2nd Type) awarded to
Flt Lt R.R.B. Truscott Royal Air Force. The M.B.E. Was awarded for services during the Cyprus Emergency.

Flight Lieutenant Robert Roger Bate Truscott an RAF Provost Officer was awarded the Military M.B.E for services in Cyprus during the emergency of the 26th November 1955 to 19th March 1959. His award was published in the London Gazette of the 3rd of March 1959.
 

The Following information regarding his RAF service was received from the RAF Police historian , Steve Hinkley Davies :

Following the withdrawal of the British from Palestine and the granting of independence to India and in the latter case, the subsequent handing over of administrative functions to native officials, many British colonial police officers who had served in Palestine and India found themselves unemployed. As a result, a large number of them, no doubt attracted by the life that the RAF offered, sought out commissions and new careers with the RAF Provost Branch. Amongst those who joined the RAF under those conditions were, Flying Officer J Biggie, Flying Officer H St Chair-Stacey, Flying Officer R R B Truscott and Flying Officer E Walsh. The recruitment of such officers of course helped considerably to replace a great deal of experience into the Provost Branch during a period of vacuum following post-war demobilisation of many former civilian police officers.

1960 -In Kenya, the detachment commander; Flight Lieutenant Whitney, was posted and he was succeeded by Flight Lieutenant R Fisher, who rather sadly collapsed and died soon after his arrival in Kenya. Eventually, Flight Lieutenant R R B Truscott was posted in to take over command. 

1964 - On the 7th of March, Turkish Cypriot insurgents opened fire into a crowd of unsuspecting civilians in the busy street of Phafos, killing seven and injuring well over thirty more. In an attempt to restore order, the Greek Cypriot National Guard (CNG) deployed a battalion from Nicosia to Phafos and following several incidents of a similar nature, Athens decided to deploy experienced officers as commanders of the still inexperienced CNG to Cyprus. The Greek officers were mainly to concentrate on operations in the rural areas. Ironically, Colonel Georgios Grivas, the former EOKA leader, was posted back to Cyprus as one of the CNG commanders. On the 18th of March, the multi-national UN peace-keeping force, which included civil police officers from Australia and New Zealand, were sent to Cyprus to restore peace and monitor the situation between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot population during the ongoing violence on the island. Additionally, for the first time, a number of specially selected RAF Police NCOs, under the command of a former colonial police officer; Squadron Leader R Truscott, formed part of the UN peace-keeping force and traded in their white caps for the familiar UN blue beret. So once again, the RAF Police found themselves very much on the front-line in Cyprus as the ethnic problems continued and while the peace-keepers were getting organised, the RAF Police stationed within the SBA's continued to enforce the security measures developed during the EOKA troubles a few years before.