Four Black Watch heroes have won the Military Cross for their bravery in battles against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
A comrade of the Inverness-based soldiers was also given the armed forces’ oldest accolade for gallantry – a Mention in Dispatches – posthumously.
Acting Sergeant Sean Binnie threw a grenade that killed insurgents a split second before he was fatally wounded by a round fired from one of their guns.
The Military Cross is the third-highest decoration given to the British Army and is awarded in recognition of exemplary gallantry during active operations.
Black Watch recipients include Lieutenant Alexander Phillips, 25, from Norfolk, who led an assault on an enemy compound while another platoon dealt with an improvised explosive device.
Corporal Richard Clark, 26, of Dunfermline, will receive his medal for attacking an enemy machinegun position firing on his platoon.
Fellow Dunfermline soldier Corporal Christopher Rey-nolds, 26, used three weapons to break up an enemy attack in Babaji while gunfire passed close to his head.
Corporal Craig Sharp, 24, of Ayrshire, led his men in a 12-hour engagement with insurgents in the same village.
The section he was leading was outnumbered by the enemy but they managed to take the village.
His Military Cross citation said his “tenacity and aggression” left the enemy so scared they reported being frightened over their radios.
Among the eight Mentioned in Dispatches were Dunfermline soldier Corporal David Roy, 34, who ran through enemy fire to help a machine gunner. Also Mentioned in Dispatches was Corporal Paul Innes, 27, from Ballingry near Dunfermline.
Cpl Innes is trained to find improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and often had to lead high-risk searches.
The men will receive their awards from the Queen at Buckingham Palace later this year.
Battalion commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cartwright, 41, was made an OBE for leading the troops on 13 missions. Lt Col Cartwright, of Inverness, led Regional Battle Group South in Helmand. News of his award came on his last day before he and his family leave for a new job at the HQ of Joint Force Operations at Northwood, London.
Lt Col Cartwright, who was born in Inverness when his father was stationed at nearby Fort George, said: “As the campaigns get more difficult and the nature of soldiering becomes more complex, I pay tribute to the raw tenacity of my troops. There are many stories of extraordinary courage in the line of fire.” Lt Col Cartwright’s citation said: “His positive approach and tactical success have been widely praised, particularly by the Canadian Taskforce, with his battle group’s performance recognised as comparable with a special operations force.
“This reputation owes much to the outstanding leadership shown by Cartwright during some complex and dynamic expeditionary operations.”
The regiment returned in November from a seven-month tour in Afghanistan, where they lost five soldiers as well as a member of the Royal Artillery and three Afghan soldiers who were attached to them during the deployment.
While in Afghanistan, the soldiers took on the Taliban in Kandahar and Helmand provinces, and were heavily involved in Operation Panther’s Claw, a campaign to clear the way for elections in the country.
In January the Prince of Wales presented Afghanistan Campaign Medals to around 500 members of the regiment in a ceremony at Fort George.