Nick Metcalfe (2)

Nick Metcalfe was born in Northern Ireland into a family that for generations had worked in the linen mills of County Armagh and County Antrim.

He was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1982. In a successful military career over the course of 27 years he served all over the world; he spent just short of eleven years on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Sierra Leone and Iraq. He was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal in 1989 and the MBE in 1997. He retired in 2009.

For many years he has been a student of military history, in particular that of the First and Second World Wars. His first book, Blacker’s Boys, tells the First World War history of the 9th (Service) Battalion, Princess Victoria's (Royal Irish Fusiliers) (County Armagh), one of thirteen infantry battalions raised in Ireland for 36th (Ulster) Division. His second book, For Exemplary Bravery - The Queen's Gallantry Medal, was published in January 2014.