Cold War Warriors by David Stone

Author:David Stone [Stone, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, Wars & Conflicts (Other), Modern, 20th Century
ISBN: 9780850526189
Google: FODRAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 1998-09-01T03:13:17+00:00

The support provided to the School of Infantry by the battalion was not confined solely to Salisbury Plain. The battalion also maintained the Demonstration Platoon at the School of Infantry’s establishment at Brecon. There, the platoon worked primarily for the NCO’s Tactics Division, and was often joined by elements of Support Company when either the Mortar or Anti-tank Platoons were required as exercise troops for the Brecon-based courses.

During its first six months in Warminster the battalion sent members of the Mortar Platoon to Hong Kong as directing staff for the Far East support weapons concentrations and the USA to demonstrate the 81mm medium mortar. A platoon, led by Lieutenant BRF Franklin, went to Cyprus for four weeks of adventure training, which was sponsored by 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. Lieutenant SG Cook also visited Cyprus with three teams to compete in the Exercise CYPRUS WALKABOUT, one of which finished as the most highly placed visiting team. The 1st Battalion also participated in Exercise LONG LOOK, an exchange exercise with the Australian Army, and Second Lieutenant SA Durant spent four months in Australia.

A visit on 21st and 22nd October by Brigadier HMA Hunter marked the end of his seven-year term of office as Colonel of the Regiment. He was dined out at the Officers’ Mess on the night of 21st October and the following day the battalion staged a special parade in his honour. This parade was mechanized, and consisted of twenty-six APCs, four Ferret Scout Cars, two Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicles, ten landrovers and four 4-ton trucks. Two hundred soldiers and sixteen officers were on parade as well as the Regimental Band and Corps of Drums. All the vehicles drove on to the battalion parade square in pairs, moved once around the square and then formed up in a shallow V-shape. During his address to those on parade Brigadier Hunter congratulated the battalion on the “high reputation it had achieved among many sections of the Army and civilian world”. He also praised the precision of the parade and said “that mechanized parades are often done in Germany, but the battalion had achieved a higher standard with very little practice”. Many representatives of the media, including television and the press, were present during the parade, and the event received extensive coverage in the local newspapers. Brigadier Hunter was succeeded as Colonel of the Regiment by Brigadier JR Roden CBE, who had commanded the 1st Battalion in Minden from 1965 to 1967.

Ferozeshah Day in 1976 was marked by a small parade, which took place on a bitterly cold Saturday 18th December. This was followed by the Warrant Officers’ and Sergeants’ Mess Ferozeshah Ball, held in the Blenheim Hall of the School of Infantry.

The latter event was notable for a ‘special attraction’ that had been initiated by the Ball Reception Committee, headed by Staff Sergeant Habgood. Warminster lies close to the Marquess of Bath’s home at Longleat, which was famous for its free-roaming lions and tigers, and the loan of two tiger cubs had been arranged by the Ball Committee for the night of 18th December.

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