Helping the international effort to search the waters of the Mediterranean for migrants desperately fleeing North Africa, is ninteen-year-old Royal Navy sailor, Thomas Wilkinson, from Midsomer Norton.
Thomas is one of a specialist team of sailors permanently aboard Britain's flagship, HMS Bulwark, which is currently on humanitarian operations in the Mediterranean.
Able Seaman Wilkinson is an above Electronic Warfare specialist, who is responsible for collating the wide area surface picture for the ship's current mission of search and rescue.
The assault ship, which only weeks ago was at the heart of Britain's involvement in centenary commemorations of the Gallipoli landings in Turkey, is leading the UK's response to the plight of people trying to leave Africa in overcrowded and unsafe boats.
Bulwark carried out her latest rescue of migrants last Wednesday, when more than 450 people were picked up from sinking makeshift dinghies about forty miles off the coast of Libya, plus collected a further 180 people from an Italian ship – and successfully transferred to safety via HMS Bulwark.
The ship's vehicle deck, which normally holds tanks, armoured vehicles, Land Rovers and trucks, has been converted into a reception area, where clean, dry clothes, medical treatment and food are available as HMS Bulwark delivers the rescued migrants to safety.
The nineteen-year-old former Norton Hill School pupil who is on his first-everdeployment, said: "I'm proud to make a difference, because I am now doing what I spent months training for. I am saving lives because it is the right thing to do during this Mediterranean crisis."
Based in Devonport, HMS Bulwark is one of the Royal Navy's two Amphibious Assault Command and Control Ships and is presently the Fleet Flagship. She is the nation's on-call amphibious assault ship, ready to deploy around the world at short notice, should the UK Government require it. The ship's flight deck is operating two Merlin helicopters on round-the-clock search and rescue operations.