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Northern Ireland (Operation Banner)
A brief honeymoon as peace keepers between two warring communities locked in civil unrest descended into a virtual civil war ...
I joined the Welsh Guards as a drummer boy in 1958 and was sent to Pirbright Camp in Surrey.I quickly realised I was never going to make it as a drummer boy, and applied to become a Guardsman so was then sent to Caterham Barracks for training. On finishing my training I was then sent back to Pirbright to continue training as a Guardsman.
It was here I became aware of The Guards Independent Parachute Company who were billeted just up the road in the spider huts, being a young seventeen and a half year old these Paras looked ten feet tall and just as broad, it was then I decided that's what I wanted to be.
In 1961 I joined the Guards Independent Parachute Company, and served with them until 1967 when I was de-mobbed. In 1971 I rejoined the Welsh Guards serving with the Guards Parachute Company reaching the rank of Serjeant.
In 1974 I went back to the Welsh Guards being discharged in 1984 as a Colour Serjeant.
Service History
- Date not known 1st Battalion Welsh Guards (Colour Sergeant)
- 1958 1st Battalion Welsh Guards (Guardsman)
- 1961 No 1 (Guards) Independent Parachute Company (Lance Sergeant)
- 1971 No 1 (Guards) Independent Parachute Company (Sergeant)
- 1974 1st Battalion Welsh Guards (Colour Sergeant)
