Nicky Mason Tribute

The latest British soldier to die in Afghanistan was a celebrated member of this month’s daring operation to install a new turbine at the hydroelectric dam in Kajaki.

Lance Corporal Nicky Mason, 26, was killed by insurgents while protecting the dam which will bring power to many of the millions of Afghans living without electricity.

The complex mission, one of the most significant since the Second World War, was hailed as milestone in the military operation to win hearts and minds in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.

L/Cpl Mason from Aveley in Essex was the second member of the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, to die in Afghanistan in the past 48 hours.

Lieutenant Colonel Joe O’Sullivan, L/Cpl Mason’s commanding officer, said: “The hidden story of the Kajaki Dam is the company that patrols north and south of it daily, to ensure that the Taleban cannot bring heavy weapons within accurate range, so that the power station can continue to function.

“Those who celebrate the operation to move the turbine to Kajaki should now reflect on the steadfast courage of those who were there beforehand and who still remain, and on Nicky Mason who has given his life there.”

The Ministry of Defence said the soldier who was a martial arts expert and keen boxer had “excelled” in the heat and hills surrounding Kajaki.

Since joining the Army in 2001, completing his training at the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick, North Yorkshire, he had completed an operational tour of Northern Ireland as well as two tours of Iraq.

Major Simon Britton, Officer Commanding X Company at Kajaki, said: “He was an excellent soldier undoubtedly, but his outstanding quality was his warmth and character.

“His ready smile was infectious and his effect upon the morale of those who lived and fought beside him will be truly missed.”

His family, who have not been named, issued a statement saying he was “too dearly loved to be forgotten”.

L/Cpl Mason’s death yesterday brought the number of British service personnel killed in the country since operations began in October 2001 to 120. On Friday of Private Jason Lee Rawstron, 23, also from 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment.

Des Browne, the Defence Secretary also paid tribute to L/Cpl Mason, saying: “It is also clear that he had made a massive contribution this summer to the work of his Company, who have done such an exceptional job, in very difficult conditions, providing security to the Kajaki Dam project, a project which will make a strategic difference to the people of southern Afghanistan.”

The operation, witnessed by The Times on September 3 required the transportation of 220 tonnes of turbine and other equipment, worth millions of pounds, across 100 miles of some of the most hostile and heavily mined territory in Afghanistan without anyone noticing.

Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the commander of British forces in Helmand, said at the time: “I think in terms of the logistical and engineering challenges it’s probably been the most significant British military undertaking certainly for a generation, maybe several generations, since the Western desert, the crossing the Rhine etc.”