Lieutenant Colonel John Robert ‘Nick’ Nicholson served initially in the Parachute Regiment, being captured at Arnhem, then in the Royal Army Education Corps, before finally transferring to the Intelligence Corps in 1958.

Already having been made a Member of the British Empire (MBE), in 1973 he was ‘elevated’ by the award of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his part in Operation Motorman, the operation that dismantled barricades at so called ‘No-Go’ areas in some Irish Republican dominated parts of Northern Ireland.

When an MBE holder is made OBE, their MBE should be returned but the Chancery was persuaded to loan his to the museum.

Nick retired in 1976 but took over the Soldier Manning post in the Intelligence Corps Directorate as a civilian, a post he held until 1993 when he finally retired.