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1st Bn Duke of Edinburgh's Royal
Regiment
(Berkshire and Wiltshire)
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| PUBLIC
DUTIES |
| In February 1984 the Battalion was
selected, for the first time since its formation, to send a Company to
London in October for three weeks. This prestigious ceremonial commitment
involved providing the Queens guard at Buckingham Palace, St James Palace,
and the Tower of London guard. |
| 1st
Bn DERR PUBLIC
DUTIES PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY
(Click to enlarge) |
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| Corporal of the guard reads
his orders to the sentries |
The 'relieved' detachment
march back to barracks from Buckingham Palace |
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| Cpl Goddard at St James Palace |
A lonely sentry |
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| The drums head the 'Farmersboys'
back up the Mall |
The Escort to the Colour |
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| Sgt Graham Giddy and C/Sgt North on
the forecourt of Buckingham Palace |
Cpl Alan McIntyre (Right)
heads a guards detachment (Which I am sure they were well impressed with
!!) |
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| The Colour Party prepare to go
on parade L to R) Cpl A McIntyre, Lt Smith. |
Lt Smith with the Regimental
Colour guarded it seems by Cpl A McIntyre who appears to be attracted to
the lens |
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| 1 DERR march from the Palace, front
left Cpl Alan McIntyre, who after this vowed never to drill again |
2nd Lt Peter Dennis shoulders
the Battalions Queens Colour, alongside the Colour of the 1st Bn Scots
Guards. |
| Several members of the Battalion were interviewed by a
reporter from the Soldier Magazine with the following quotes |
| Lieutenant
Colonel Bill Mackereth (Commanding Officer) |
| "This was the first
time that the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment had been granted this
enormous privilege, the Battalion came into being in 1959 as a result of
the merger of the Royal Berkshire Regiment and the Wiltshire Regiment,
Research had shown that neither of those Regiments had ever done this duty
before. Our Colonel in Chief Prince Phillip, came up and presented us with
new colours in June, for which we had a three week intensive period of
drill, so we weren't totally out of training, however we have been
extremely busy during these past months. We've spent six weeks in Canada,
we spent a week on a KAPE tour of Berkshire and Wiltshire, some of us went
to Germany umpiring Exercise Lionheart, and we've been preparing to go to
Cyprus. When I was asked back in February whether the Battalion was
prepared to take on the job, I relied "Yes absolutely delighted"
"I was slightly nervous on the one occasion I acted
as Captain of the Guard, but immensely relieved when we marched off, a
great feeling of pride too, marching behind ones own regimental bands superb
music" |
| Major Anthony
Lake (OC A Company 1 DERR) |
| "I was extremely
nervous, it is probably the most nerve racking thng I have done in my
Military career. And it wasn't the first time we did it, it was the second
time as well"
"Under normal circumstances the battalion did very
little drill. Even in recruit training, drill had been cut right down in
favour of more tactical work. In fact to prepare for their current
assignment a fair amount of new drill had to be learned, particularly the
slow march."
In the last Week
"We have all enjoyed it, I think it is wearing a
bit thin now and we are quite pleased we are not guardsmen, but, by Jove,
there aren't too many people who haven't been pleased to be up here" |
| Captain John
Rylands (2i/c A Company 1 DERR) |
| "I could never be an
actor, if that's what its like" Captain RYLANDS frankly admitting
some mistakes "But I am not going to tell you what they were, its to embarrassing"
Though he did say one one occasion he had given the wrong order "But
the Soldiers were in fact so well trained that they did the right thing
almost regardless of what they were told, as long as someone was making
the right sort of noise at the right time" |
| Colour Sergeant
Toby North |
| "I think
its brilliant, having people watching you, its a bit like being a
celebrity. Its been a good, a very good experience, but I'll be glad to
get back to prepare for Cyprus." |
| Corporal Alan
McIntyre |
| "Its alright, but it
gets a bit repetitive, If you like drill, fine join the guards, but I
don't like drill, I'm more of your field soldier type, I prefer field work
rather than barrack work, but I think the sentries at St James seemed to
have enjoyed themselves, there were stories of phone numbers slipped
into their pockets in the dead of night, whether they had been able to do
anything about them was another matter, there hadn't been too much free
time during their stay in London" |
| Private Lawson
Smith |
| "People come right up
next to you, sometimes they speak to you, generally just say hello how are
you and all that. The Policemen are quite nice, they come along and tell
you how long you've got to do, it was always a one way conversation
because sentries of course are not allowed to reply |
| Private John
Gilbert |
| "A nice change from
the usual soldiering, its a novelty at first, quite good fun. Something
you'd like to do once, but not again. |
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