b. 09/1967 Northumberland.
DATE OF CGC ACTION: 10/09/2000 Occra Hills, Sierra Leone.
Little is known about John Baycroft’s early life other than he was born in September 1967 in Northumberland. He joined the Army and was given the number 24686530 and became part of the 1st Parachute Regiment. He was deployed to Northern Ireland, where as a Corporal he was given a Queen’s Commendation for Bravery in 1997. In 1998 he married Sandra Cummings in Hereford.
In late August 2000, he was deployed to Sierra Leone to form part of Operation Barras, which took place on September 10, 2000 in Occra Hills. Sierra Leone was at the time in the latter stages of its civil war. Operation Barras aimed to secure the release of six British soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment and their Sierra Leone Army liaison officer who were being held by a militia group called the “West Side Boys”.
The soldiers were part of a patrol that was returning from a visit to Jordanian peacekeepers attached to the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) at Masiaka on August 25, 2000 when they turned off the main road and down a track towards the village of Magbeni. There the patrol of twelve men was overwhelmed by a large number of heavily armed rebels, taken prisoner, and transported to Gberi Bana on the opposite side of Rokel Creek.
Negotiators secured the release of five of the soldiers, but were unable to gain the freedom of the remaining six and their SLA liaison officer before the West Side Boys’ demands became increasingly unrealistic. Negotiators concluded that these were delaying tactics rather than an effort to resolve the crisis. By 9 September, the soldiers had been held for more than two weeks. Fearing that the soldiers would be killed or moved to a location from which it would be more difficult to extract them, the British government authorised an assault on the West Side Boys’ base, to take place at dawn the following day, September 10th.
The ground operation was conducted by D Squadron, 22 Regiment Special Air Service, reinforced with a Troop from C Squadron, Special Boat Service—who assaulted Gberi Bana in a bid to extract the Royal Irish—and elements of 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment (1 PARA), who launched a diversionary assault on Magbeni. The operation freed the six soldiers and their SLA liaison officer, as well as twenty-one Sierra Leonean civilians who had been held prisoner by the West Side Boys. At least twenty-five West Side Boys were killed in the assault, as was one British soldier, while eighteen West Side Boys—including the gang’s leader, Foday Kallay—were taken prisoner and later transferred to the custody of the Sierra Leone Police. Many West Side Boys fled the area during the assault, and over 300 surrendered to UNAMSIL forces within a fortnight.
The operation restored confidence in the British forces operating in Sierra Leone, which had been undermined by the capture of the Royal Irish patrol. After the operation, the British government increased its support of UNAMSIL and its efforts to bring the civil war to an end, both politically, through the United Nations Security Council, and through the provision of staff officers to support UNAMSIL. The successful use of 1 PARA in Operation Barras influenced the creation of the Special Forces Support Group—a permanent unit, initially built around 1 PARA, whose role is to act as a force multiplier for British special forces on large or complex operations.
Several decorations were awarded to the personnel who took part in Operation Barras, including two Conspicuous Gallantry Crosses (Parachute Regiment Colour Sergeant John David Baycroft and Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Iain James McKechnie MacFarlane), five Military Crosses (Parachute Regiment Warrant Officer Class 2 Harry William Bartlett, Major James Robert Chiswell, Captain Evan John Jeaffreson Fuery, Sergeant Stephen Michael Christopher Heaney, and Acting Captain Daniel John Matthews), and five Distinguished Flying Crosses (Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant Timothy James Burgess, Squadron Leader Iain James McKechnie MacFarlane, Flight Lieutenant Jonathan Priest, Flight Lieutenant Paul Graham Shepherd, and Army Air Corps Captain Allan Laughlan Moyes). Holmes (Director Special Forces) was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his part in the operation.
John Baycroft is also the holder of the MBE, and is Company Director of Raptor Ventures UK.
NO CITATION
LOCATION OF MEDAL: WITH RECIPIENT.
