Kirruth
Active member
The Queen Awards Outgoing Irish Battallions Gallantry Cross
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5411706.stm
"The Queen is in Northern Ireland to attend a major parade to mark the disbandment of the Royal Irish Regiment's home service battalions.
Several thousand members of the regiment, and its predecessor the UDR, are attending the ceremony at Balmoral Showgrounds in Belfast.
The three home service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment will be disbanded next July."
The home service battallions were formed from the Ulster Defence Regiment in the mid 1990s, and suffered tremendous losses and suffering, including off-duty murders of the troops and their families.
To mark this, in a surprise move, the Queen awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, Britain's second-highest military medal to the battallions: they are the first British regiment to receive a collective medal in this way in the modern era.
The battallions were disbanded due to the ending of the Provisional IRAs military campaign.
They truly "cleared the way".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5411706.stm
"The Queen is in Northern Ireland to attend a major parade to mark the disbandment of the Royal Irish Regiment's home service battalions.
Several thousand members of the regiment, and its predecessor the UDR, are attending the ceremony at Balmoral Showgrounds in Belfast.
The three home service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment will be disbanded next July."
The home service battallions were formed from the Ulster Defence Regiment in the mid 1990s, and suffered tremendous losses and suffering, including off-duty murders of the troops and their families.
To mark this, in a surprise move, the Queen awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, Britain's second-highest military medal to the battallions: they are the first British regiment to receive a collective medal in this way in the modern era.
The battallions were disbanded due to the ending of the Provisional IRAs military campaign.
They truly "cleared the way".
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