Issue 3 includes TOM RIORDAN'S WAR FOOTNOTES FROM OUR HISTORY (1957) FOOTNOTES FROM OUR HISTORY (1982)

EDITORIAL COMMENT

Much of this issue is devoted to the re-opening of the regimental museum and the Yorkshire Regiment's (Green Howards) 'baptism of fire' in the First World War.

On 19th May 2007, after seven months, the museum's doors were opened to display the new shop, reception desk, research centre, staff offices and children's play-zone. It has taken almost two and a half years, since the application form was submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund, for the work to be completed. All those who have since entered the museum have expressed approval at the design and its contents. Now, thanks to the hard work of the new curator, staff and contractors, the Green Howards again lead the way and possess one of the finest regimental museums in the UK.

The three generations of the Riordan family in the Green Howards are well known to many readers, yet few know that RSM Tom Riordan MBE kept a record of his experiences in the 2nd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) from the declaration of war in September 1914. It covers his subsequent move to France to take part, as a young Corporal, in the First Battle of Ypres in Belgium. Excerpts from his memoirs form the framework for an article by his son, George, about this fascinating period in our regimental history.

In June this year George took 47 Friends, members of the GHA, and their guests to follow his father's route through France and Belgium until Corporal Tom Riordan was captured on 30th October 1914. He also took the group to visit many of the WWI memorials and cemeteries. Finally, they visited the main WWII Normandy invasion battlefields as well as paying their respects at the Green Howards memorial at Crepon.

Meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) - recently returned to Chepstow from six months in Bosnia and Kosovo - have been preparing for their move to Weeton Camp near Liverpool at the end of July and training for their next tour to the Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in mid-September.

I am sure that you will join me in wishing those regular and territorial members of The Yorkshire Regiment who fly out to Afghanistan later this month a successful tour and a safe return in six months' time.

Roger Chapman
September 2007

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DRAMATIC OPENING TO REFURBISHED GREEN HOWARDS MUSEUM

An Army Land Rover now bursts through the wall of The Green Howards Regimental Museum as a dramatic introduction to its newly refurbished entrance area, which opened to the public for the first time on Saturday 19th May 2007.

With the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £220,000, the museum now greets visitors with a startling image of the modern Army, with a vehicle in desert camouflage complete with driver protected against the sands of Afghanistan.

Beyond the vehicle, visitors are greeted with a refurbished reception area that that includes a museum shop and a special 'hands-on' area where the many children who visit the museum - among them many school parties -will be able to handle objects from the museum, wear uniforms and work with Museum Assistant Paul Cooper.

In a new research area, visitors now have computer access to more than 6,000 archive photographs of the Regiment, dating back 150 years, which have been digitised by Sarah Taylor, the Museum's Collections and Audience Development Officer, and her team of volunteers. There is also access to computer databases of military history that can help people to research their family history.

The design for the new reception area was undertaken by Will Daykin of BLUE - The Design Company, based in Askrigg. He said, "The idea for the Land Rover bursting through the wall came as a result of discussions at the museum about the need to show up-to-date life in the Army as well as its history. And we have decorated the curved glass wall of the study area with text taken from a punishment book in the Green Howards archives."

To mark the opening of the refurbished museum there is also a special exhibition for this year, organised by Anne Wall and the local Red Cross branch, which shows the role of nurses in war.

The Regiment is most grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund, Richmondshire District Council and the Museum Trustees for providing the money to make this possible. We hope that all our readers will take this opportunity to visit the museum and, by doing so, be even more proud of our regimental history.

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A MESSAGE FROM MAJOR-GENERAL A P FARQUHAR, C B E

Once again I take great pleasure in putting a short message into this fantastic magazine. It remains a valuable medium by which to communicate with the wider Regimental community, as well as being an excellent read. I congratulate all those who have contributed to the magazine and thank in particular the Editor, Major (Retired) Roger Chapman, and Mark Marsay, the designer and publisher. Whilst on the theme of communications, I would also commend the www.greenhowards.org.uk website to you, and I thank Dr Edward Nicholl for his renewed efforts to ensure it remains so vibrant and up to date.

Since my last message in Issue 2, much has happened. We have completed the work at the museum and held a most successful opening on 18th May 2007 by Lady Crathorne, the wife of the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire. The Trustees of the Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiment have kindly donated a significant gift to the museum; a silver centrepiece in the form of a tiger. We are holding an official welcome party for the tiger in the autumn. We have welcomed into the Headquarters at Richmond Major Bob Martin MBE as our Military Support Function Grade C2 (old speak RO2). We wish him every success as he tends to Green Howards' needs, whilst bringing on the Yorkshire Regiment in the northern part of our recruiting area. The events over Richmond Sunday were extremely well attended, as was the Officers' Lunch, once again at the Queen's Club in London. Members of the Association have again visited Crepon and taken part in a Normandy trip.

As we go to press I have just heard of the excellent news that the museum has acquired the Thomas Atkinson George Cross medal group. He won his GC on 15th March 1939, when a corporal with the 1st Battalion in Palestine. He was instrumental in saving lives and equipment, principally trucks, from a serious fire prior to himself being badly burnt. The acquisition was by auction from Spinks, with financial support from the Victoria and Albert Museum, all made possible by our agent, Dixons of Bridlington. Without this support we could not have obtained this second of the three Green Howards' GCs and I am most grateful.

Turning to future Yorkshire Regiment events, the formation of the Regiment is to be marked by a ceremony in York Minster on 22nd September 2007; details have been promulgated through Association Branches, but if you require further information do call the RHQ at Richmond. The Yorkshire Regiment Association has been formed and is looking to hold a first reunion in 2008. The 2nd Battalion (Green Howards) is currently training hard to deploy to Afghanistan later this year. I have seen much of them recently and I will visit once more prior to their departure. From this I can assure you that they are in excellent heart and really getting to grips with their preparation. We wish them every success for this complex and highly challenging operation. Be assured that the new Regiment has come together very strongly and has maintained all the values and standards of the Green Howards and the other antecedent Regiments.

As for Green Howards Association events, you will find a forecast of events in this issue and I hope that you will support them as best you can. Explicitly, I look forward to seeing you at the Reunion in Scarborough from 19th-21st October 2007. Details are shortly to be sent out from Richmond.

I close by wishing all serving and retired Regimental members all the very best for the future and look forward to seeing you all in Scarborough.

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MUSEUM NEWS

Over 100 members of the Green Howards Association, VIPs and guests attended the opening of the new ground floor of the Museum on the evening of Friday 18th May 2007.

For the past seven months the lower ground floor of the museum had been totally stripped and refurbished. A camouflaged Land Rover, - with the model of a Green Howard driver in desert kit on operations in Afghanistan, greeted the visitors entering though the glass door entrance into the brightly lit reception area. There is an area for children to try on uniforms and handle military hardware as well as a cleverly designed research centre, surrounded by glass walls, with the latest computer software linked to the internet. The Museum Assistant has a brand new and spacious office, where visitors can seek his advice about Green Howard history. However the space age reception desk, alongside an attractive shop display, catches the eye with the words "Welcome to the Green Howards Museum'.

Major-General Andrew Farquhar CBE, the Colonel of the Green Howards, gave a thought provoking speech linking the role of military museums to the modern army and in this case with the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) before thanking the many people who had made this transformation possible. He then invited Lady Crathorne, the wife of the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, to officially open the 'new look' museum by cutting the ribbon.

All this would not have been possible without the financial support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. Dr Fiona Spears, the Head of HLF Yorkshire, informed the guests that it had taken over four million lottery tickets to pay for the £220,000 donation.

All those who attended gave their warm approval to the improvements and what had been achieved by David Tetlow, the new Curator; Paul Cooper, the Museum Assistant; Sarah Taylor, the Collections and Audience Development Officer; the Guides and Volunteers as well as to Will Daykin, who designed the new lower ground floor with the former Curator, Major Roger Chapman.

All are to be congratulated on a job well done, making The Green Howards Museum one of the best small military museums in the country.

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BATTLEFIELD TOUR - GREEN HOWARD BATTLEFIELDS OF WW1 & WW2

Text by Tom Heron. Photographs of the Battlefields Tour by Edward Nicholl.

In 2005, the 2nd Battalion Branch GHA initiated a coach tour to the WWI and WWII European battlefields. It was a success. Asked to do it again in 2007 we naturally returned to our hard-working, former tour guide, Major George Riordan. He organised the itinerary, including something for those experienced in battlefield visits and something for those who were not.

Amongst the 47 were four WWII veterans who had fought in the North West European campaign: George Awty and Dick Bowen (York Branch), Jack Haines (Harrogate Branch) and George Hewling (Whitby Branch). A fifth who intended coming along was Charles Taylor of Sheffield. Unfortunately, in March, Charles broke a leg and could not make it - we wish him well.

The tour took place between 22nd and 27th June in mixed weather. The overcast clouds were occasionally pierced by sunshine but it more often rained. Where convenient, they visited battlefields where our Green Howards had fought.

On the WWI front, part of the tour coincided with ground that a certain Green Howard Corporal, Tom Riordan, had trodden in the Ypres Salient. Tom was the father of, amongst other siblings, our tour guide and Major Jack Riordan MBE. One first-timer to the European battlefields was Jonathan Sidgwick, nephew of George Riordan. He fittingly described the tour as "Not a holiday, but an experience." Certainly there were many poignant occasions - not least for those who made special cemetery visits, such as Jim Beazley, Marlene and Ray Gascoyne, Edward Nicholl, Bill Bowes, Mary Bell, Shirley Patrick, Greta Dickinson and Sean Lennon.

In the WWI part of the trip yet more poignancy -was experienced when, firstly, Jack Haines planted a poppy cross at the memorial to Second-Lieutenant Donald Bell VC in Contalmaison. The second occasion was when Paddy Riordan laid a wreath at the 50th Division Memorial in the Ypres Salient.

In the WWII part of the trip a poignant occasion was when Major Bill Laws laid a wreath at our Crepon Memorial in Normandy, with Shirley Patrick reading our Regimental Collect and Dave Bellerby reciting the well-known verse from Laurence Binyon's ode, 'For the Fallen'. Jack Haines (Harrogate), Ray Gascoyne (Barnsley), Callum Moir (York) and Maurice Nicholson (2nd Battalion) had a job drying out their respective Branch Standards after the ceremony.

The tour ended on 26th June, when the Green Howards Association took part in the world-famous Menin Gate's 'Last Post Ceremony'. Our four Branch Standards were again paraded and George Awty and Dick Bowen laid the Regimental wreath folio-wed by Sean Lennon with George Hewling laying a personal wreath. Trish Horan also laid a poppy cross. George Riordan realised a long held ambition when he, in clear and ringing tones, recited the fourth verse from Binyon's ode to a large audience:

They shall grow not old,
as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun
and in the morning
We will remember them.

"Not a holiday but an experience." Should we have indulged in laughter during such an experience? Taking a cue from our WWII veterans, we did laugh and laughed heartily - but only when appropriate. Doubtless all WWI veterans would have wanted us to do that. After all, the freedom to laugh was one of the reasons why both sets of veterans fought in their respective wars.

We shall remember them - hopefully for a long time, and, certainly, with gratitude.

Shirley Patrick, who attended the battlefield tour with her friend Greta Dickinson, wrote:
How did our association with the Green Howards come about? Early in 1999 we attended a series of lectures at the University of York on the subject of War Memorials given by Philip Banbury, a former Green Howard, and it was through him that we joined a Green Howards' battlefield tour for the first time. And now we are regulars.

So what characterises these tours? First of all, the planning and execution are meticulous. We can only guess at the amount of hard work and research that goes into the setting-up of each tour. In addition, every consideration is given to the request of individual members of the party to visit particular cemeteries or memorials. Greta, for example, has always been able to visit her grandfather's grave on every tour.

Well before the date of departure, members are sent a detailed history of the events which took place in the areas being visited. Nor are we expected to be merely passive recipients of this information! During the tour we are given various lists of questions to answer, and certainly we women can learn a great deal about military matters that might otherwise be foreign to us.

It is an inspiring sight when the Green Howards veterans on these tours take part in the ceremonies at the Menin Gate or at the Green Howards' own memorial at Crepon. We feel privileged to have been invited to take part in their tours, and to have been made to feel so welcome.

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ISSUE 3, "THE GREEN HOWARD", - CONTENT

TOM RIORDAN'S WAR

In an 15-page article, profusely illustrated, George Riordan describes the short, but momentous, war of his father Tom.

Tom Riordan was in Gurnsey with the 2nd Battalion Green Howards when War broke out, and at the beginning of October 1914 was in Belgium with the rest of the 2nd Battalion.

A very detailed description os given of the actions in which the 2nd Battalion took part in Octoberand November in the Ypres / Menin Crossroads area, and this includes a description of the Battle of the Menin Crossroads.

Tom Riordan was taken prisoner on 30 October 1914, and remained a POW until August 1918.

Out of the 250 officers and soldiers from Tom Riordan's company who set sail from England on 5 October, only 15 men survived the war. All of the company officers were dead before the end of 1914.

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FOOTNOTES FROM OUR HISTORY - 50 YEARS AGO, 1957

The death of King Haakon VII of Norway on 21 September 1957 occurred.
HM King Olav V of Norway was crowned in Oslo in 1957. He succeeded his late father as Colonel-in-Chief of the Green Howards.
In an illustrated article, the service of the Green Howards in Hong Kong in 1957 is remembered.
The Dedication of the new Standard of the Northallerton Branch of the Green Howards Association took place on Sunday 18 September 1957.

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FOOTNOTES FROM OUR HISTORY - 25 YEARS AGO, 1982

Brigadier P A Inge assumed the appointment of Colonel on 19 July 1982.
Captain R F Dannatt MC was promoted to Major on 30 September 1982.
News relating to several other named officers is reoprted.