 |
The
Friends of the Green Howards |
Previous News Items, January - March 2004 |
| Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment (19th Foot) The North York Militia, The North York Local Militia & North York Rifle Volunteers | ||
30 March 2004
NEW COMMANDING OFFICER FLIES TO AFGHANISTAN
Photo shows Lt Colonel Jim Willis.
Only a few weeks after taking over as Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion The Green Howards, Lieutenant Colonel Jim Willis MBE is about to fly out to Afghanistan, where his men will be deployed for the next six months.
Lt Colonel Willis took command of the Battalion on their from two years at Ballykelly in Northern Ireland. Almost immediately they after they moved to their new base at Chepstow they began intensive preparations for their tour of duty in Afghanistan, including full-scale training on Salisbury Plain. Before taking up command, Lt Col Willis spent some time in Afghanistan familiarising himself with conditions there. He expects to be in the country for most of the coming six months.
The Battalion’s ‘B’ and Support Companies have already flown to Afghanistan, and much of the remainder, including ‘C’ and Headquarter Companies, will follow in the next few days. Remaining in Chepstow will be ‘A’ Company, which will travel to Afghanistan later this year.
In Afghanistan the Green Howards will be working with the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is helping the Afghan Transitional Authority maintain security in Kabul and the surrounding areas. Support Company will help train the Afghan National Army. Other members of the 1st Battalion will be in the north of the country at Mazar-e-Sharif as part of the UK Provincial Reconstruction Team. It will undertake civil affairs activities that are designed to help the Afghan Transitional Authority expand its influence in the provinces.
22 March 2004
COLLEGE STUDENTS GET GREEN HOWARDS JACKETS
Photo shows Garry Smith of Middlesbrough College, students Jamie Swinnerton
(16),
Marc Trafford and Anthony Powell (both 17) and Captain Steve Mincher.
Students on the Uniformed Services Course at Middlesbrough College now have smart new tracksuit jackets, thanks to the generosity of the Green Howards.
The 1st Battalion, which is about to leave for a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, has donated 72 of the jackets for use by members of the course, which prepares young men and women to join the armed forces, police or fire service. They were presented by Captain Steve Mincher, Officer Commanding the Regimental Recruiting Team based at Catterick.
The design of the jackets is identical to those worn by the Green Howards when undertaking sports activities, including the Regiment’s boxing and rugby teams, both of which have recently won major Army competitions. Captain Mincher handed the jackets to a group of students and one of their tutors, a former Green Howards soldier, Sergeant Major Garry Smith.
Garry was a member of the Regiment for 22 years serving with the 1st Battalion around the world. He is now Level 1 tutor on the course, and is also Training Officer for B (Green Howards) Company, The Tyne Tees Regiment, based at the Territorial Army Centre on Stockton Road, Middlesbrough. Another Green Howard, former Lance Corporal Tony Gilbert, is Residential Co-ordinator and a Level 2 tutor for the course.
Captain Steve Mincher says, ‘This is one of the best courses in the north for young people planning a career in one of the uniformed services, and the Green Howards are delighted to have been able to donate these jackets. We hope that the students will be proud to be associated with the Regiment.’
22 March 2004
CRIMEAN BOOK LAUNCHED ON THE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF DECLARATION OF WAR
Major Roger Chapman with his news book,
- note one of the captured Russian drums to the left.
One hundred and fifty years ago, on 24 March 1854, France and Great Britain declared war on Russia, heralding the start of the Crimean War. To mark the anniversary a new book that uses contemporary diaries and memoirs of Green Howards soldiers – and a wife - to trace the course of the conflict has been written by the Curator of the Green Howards Regimental Museum, Major Roger Chapman.
‘Echoes from the Crimea’ sees the war through the eyes of ten people who experienced the events, from a Lieutenant Colonel to two private soldiers. The book also includes the memories of Margaret Kirwin, wife of Private John Kirwin, who accompanied her husband to the front line – one of the very few women ever to do this, and the only one known to have recorded her impressions, in an interview later in life with the Green Howards Gazette.
Major Chapman’s book prints the words of those who lived through the war on the right-hand page, and has notes on the text opposite, so that the narrative can be easily understood and the background is made clear. Among the events covered is the Battle of Alma, on 20 September 1854, in which the Green Howards won their first battle honour and captured a number of Russian drums now in the Museum.
Later actions covered include the siege of Sevastopol in which the Green Howards won the first two of the Regiment’s 18 Victoria Crosses. Private John Lyons and Private Samuel Evans were both given the award for actions in the conflict, and their medals are now on display in the Museum.
Margaret Kirwin, who lived under canvas in the Crimea for two years, was a washerwoman to her husband’s Company; on the march she carried her washing tub and kitchen utensils on her head. During the British assault on the Redan in 1855 William Howard Russell, War Correspondent of The Times, invited her to see the fighting. ‘The battle commenced at 3 o’clock. I went up the hill to look at it and I saw a gentleman there, the name of Mr Russell, who asked me would I like to see the battle or would I be frightened. I said I would like to see it and he gave me his telescope to look through, which brought the battle under my eyes – men bayoneting one another and drawing back and meeting one another again. When I saw this, I could stand it no longer and gave the gentleman his telescope back again. He told me that I had seen something that very few women in England had seen.’
‘Echoes from the Crimea’ is being launched in the Green Howards Regimental Museum on Friday 26 March. Guests will include members of the Crimean War Research Society. They have assisted with the research for the book, which is generously illustrated with contemporary photographs and maps.
‘Echoes from the Crimea’ costs £20.00 and is available from bookshops or from the Green Howards Regimental Museum, Trinity Church Square, Richmond DL10 4QN. Postage is £2.50
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| A soldier's wife in the Crimea - photo by Roger Fenton | Margaret Kirwin handing out washing in the Crimea (modern drawing) | The Redan after the battle - photo by Roger Fenton | ||
22 March 2004
FIJIAN IS NEW FACE ON THE STREETS FOR GREEN HOWARDS
Photo shows Pte Vakadranu
A new face for Green Howards recruiting will be seen on the streets of Teesside and North Yorkshire in the coming months, as Fijian soldier Misaele Vakadranu joins the Regimental Recruiting Team.
Private Vakadranu, 27, joined the Green Howards in January 2002. It has been his ambition to join the British Army since he was small, and a visit to Fiji by a recruiting team in 1999 spurred him on. He came to Britain in 2001 and lived in Scarborough for some months before joining the Green Howards.
He is now part of the Catterick-based Recruiting Team, which goes around the Green Howards recruiting area telling young men about life in the Regiment. He will be out and about in Teesside and North Yorkshire, and hopes to re-visit Scarborough soon as part of his work.
A talented rugby player, Private Vakadranu was part of the C Company team that won the Regimental championship recently, and hopes to play for the Regimental team when the rest of the Battalion returns from its six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. He would also like to return to his home in Fiji to visit his family this year; he last saw them in 2002.
15 March 2004
STUDENTS LEARN GREEN HOWARDS HISTORY AT FIRST HAND
Fyndoune Community College students
(l to r) Hannah Coult, Anthony Ward and Leanne Dodds, all 12 years old
The Green Howards Museum in Richmond has been helping youngsters with their history studies, as 90 11 and 12-year-old students from Fyndoune Community College in Sacriston near Durham paid a visit as part of a day in the town, which also included the Castle and the Georgian Theatre.
They toured the Museum, which tells the story of the Regiment from its formation in 1688 to the present day, and they heard about the forthcoming six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan that the 1st Battalion, The Green Howards, is about to begin.
All the students took part in a quiz that took them around the Museum, including the Harrison Medal Room, where 16 of the Regiment’s 18 Victoria Crosses are on display. All those who answered the questions correctly - with the help of the Museum staff and voluntary guides – were given certificates making them Professors of Green Howards History.
The Museum’s Curator, Major Roger Chapman, says, ‘School parties always enjoy a visit to the Green Howards Museum, and have a good time searching the displays for answers to the quiz questions. It can be quite a hectic time, but it’s good to see them so interested in the history of the Regiment and the town.’
11 March 2004
DRUMMER MARK GETS HIS AFGHAN DESERT KIT IN THE WELSH SNOW
Receiving his desert kit for forthcoming service in Afghanistan is Green Howards Drummer Mark Finnegan from Middlesbrough – and not only does he have both Sergeant Major Steve Swift (left), from Thirsk, and Sergeant Andy Kidger (r), from Guisborough, to deal with, he also finds himself in the snows of his camp at Chepstow in Wales.
When the 1st Battalion The Green Howards travels to Afghanistan at the end of this month for a six-month tour of duty, Drummer Finnegan, who is a bugler in the Battalion’s Corps of Drums and a member of Support Company, will be a rifleman and a member of a machine gun platoon. He says, ‘It’ll be a bit different in Kabul from the snow here in Chepstow. It can be very hot in the middle of summer, and even in April it’s up to 20 degrees and more.’
In Afghanistan the Green Howards will be working with the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which is helping the Afghan Transitional Authority maintain security in Kabul and the surrounding areas. Support Company will help train the Afghan National Army. This security work is not part of the continuing operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Other members of the 1st Battalion will be in the north of the country at Mazar-e-Sharif as part of the UK Provincial Reconstruction Team. It will undertake civil affairs activities that are designed to help the Afghan Transitional Authority to expand its influence in the provinces.
To find out more about the regiment's role in Afghanistan, select here.
8 March 2004
GREEN HOWARDS SOLDIERS GO FROM GUARD DUTY IN WALES TO AFGHANISTAN
Private Arnold (left) and Private Cross on duty at Chepstow
Green Howards Private David Arnold from Leyburn and Private Jonathan Cross from Billingham have been on duty guarding the new home of the Green Howards at Chepstow in Wales – and are also training for the new role of the Regiment in Afghanistan.
Private Arnold (19) is a member of Support Company, 1st Battalion the Green Howards. He has previously served in Northern Ireland and has undertaken adventurous training in Canada. Private Cross (23) is also a member of Support Company. He drives a Saxon armoured vehicle, and has previously served in Northern Ireland and Germany.
Like all the Regiment’s members they have been training hard for the sixth-month deployment to Afghanistan, with range practice at Lydd & Hythe Camp in Kent, and full-scale exercises on Salisbury Plain. The Battalion will be in Afghanistan from April to October 2004.
The Green Howards have recently completed a two-year tour of duty in Northern Ireland and moved from Ballykelly, near Londonderry, to Chepstow last month. After completing six months in Afghanistan they will return to Chepstow, from where they will train in the jungles of Belize to prepare for rapid deployment anywhere in the world.
In Afghanistan the Green Howards will be working with the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which is helping the Afghan Transitional Authority maintain security in Kabul and the surrounding areas. Support Company will help train the Afghan National Army. This security work is not part of the continuing operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Other members of the 1st Battalion will be in the north of the country at Mazar-e-Sharif as part of the UK Provincial Reconstruction Team. It will undertake civil affairs activities that are designed to help the Afghan Transitional Authority to expand its influence in the provinces.
To find out more about the regiment's role in Afghanistan, select here.
19 February 2004
GREEN HOWARDS SAY FAREWELL TO IRELAND WITH RUGBY VICTORY
The Green Howards Rugby Squad
 Green Howards in the scrum 
Pte Naciqua and (with the ball) Capt Dan Ogilvie |
The 1st Battalion The Green Howards have crowned their two-year tour
of duty in Northern Ireland with another sporting success –
winning the Army’s
The Green Howards have just moved from their headquarters in Ballykelly in Northern Ireland to a new base at Chepstow in Wales. In the spring four Companies will travel to Afghanistan for a six-month tour of duty, working with the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which is helping the Afghan Transitional Authority maintain security in Kabul and the surrounding areas, training the Afghan National Army and working as part of the UK Provincial Reconstruction Team. The Green Howards will have more than 300 men in Afghanistan, while
the rest |
16 February 2004
GREEN HOWARDS GET NEW COMMANDING OFFICER
 Lt Col Jim WIllis, Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion The Green Howards. 
Lt Col Nick Watt. |
The 1st Battalion The Green Howards, which recruits in Teesside and North Yorkshire, has a new Commanding Officer, who takes over as the Battalion moves from Northern Ireland to Chepstow to prepare for deployment in Afghanistan. Lieutenant Colonel Jim Willis MBE takes up command on 17 February at the Battalion’s current location at Ballykelly in Northern Ireland, and moves with the Battalion almost immediately to the new posting in Chepstow. In the spring he will join his men on their six-month posting in Afghanistan, where they will be working with the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul and the surrounding areas, and helping to train the Afghan National Army. Jim Willis has close family ties with the Green Howards. His uncle, Major Peter Willis, served with the Regiment and was killed by terrorists whilst a Company Commander in Ulster in 1975. Jim’s cousin also served with the 1st Battalion in the 1990s. Commissioned from Sandhurst in August 1984, Jim Willis joined the 1st Battalion The Green Howards at Osnabruck. After six years service in Germany, Northern Ireland and Yorkshire, he became Aide-de-Camp to another Green Howard, General Sir Peter Inge (now Field Marshal The Lord Inge), who was Commander Northern Army Group and Commander in Chief, British Army of the Rhine. He returned to the Battalion in 1991 and served as Adjutant for two and a half years. He then taught at Sandhurst for a year, where he was promoted to Major, before going to the Army Staff College at Camberley. After a time as Military Assistant to the Chief of Staff at the Adjutant General’s headquarters in Wiltshire, Jim Willis returned to the 1st Battalion the Green Howards to command B (King Harald) Company in Belfast, Germany and Warminster. After another spell instructing at Sandhurst he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and became a staff officer at the Permanent Joint Headquarters (UK) at Northwood. Lt Col Willis, who is married to Alison and has two young sons, succeeds Lt Col Nick Watt as Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion The Green Howards. After just over two years in the post, Lt Col Watt has been posted to command the Operation Training Advisory Group in Dover. |
28 January 2004
D-DAY VETERAN OPENS EXHIBITION AT GREEN HOWARDS MUSEUM
D-Day Exhibition - Major Young and Capt Milton declare it open.
(other photos are available below)
The commander of one of the first Green Howards companies to go ashore on D-Day, 6 June 1944, officially opened a special exhibition at the Green Howards Regimental Museum in Richmond on Monday 9 February to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day.
Major G M ‘Bolo’ Young MC, now in his 90s, commanded B Company of the 6th Battalion The Green Howards, part of 50 Division that stormed the Normandy beaches on the morning of 6 June. His Company was part of the second wave on shore that day, following A and D Companies. In a special reception, he opened the new exhibition, which brings together photographs of the D-Day landings, as well as personal effects, diaries and official documents relating to the action and the part played by the Green Howards.
Other Green Howards D-Day veterans, including Captain John Milton from Harrogate, who, as a Lieutenant, was a platoon commander in B Company, and Pte Jim Brown, who was the driver for the Brigade Commander, joined Major Young at the exhibition and spoke of the part they played on D-Day. Major Young’s memories of D-Day are still very clear – he particularly remembers urging his men to leave the landing craft on the beach, and jumping off first, only to land in 10 feet of water, as the craft had not properly beached.
The only Victoria Cross won on D-Day was awarded to Green Howard Sergeant Major Stan Hollis of D Company for his actions. He almost single-handedly captured two pillboxes on the Mont Fleury Battery and took more than 20 prisoners; he subsequently rescued two of his men under enemy fire at the village of Crepon. Hollis’s VC will be on display in London at a special D-Day exhibition at the Imperial War Museum. Hollis’s son Brian and daughter Pauline, as well as Pauline’s daughter Amanda, were at the exhibition’s opening.
Major Roger Chapman, Curator of the Green Howards Museum, says, ‘This new exhibition tells of the planning for D-Day and the deeds of heroism on the beaches of Normandy. We are very grateful to Major Young for agreeing to open it and share some of his memories with us, 60 years on.’
The exhibition will run until the end of November.
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| D Day exhibition opening - Capt John Milton | D Day exhibition opening - Capt Milton (l) Pte Brown (standing ) and Major Young | D Day exhibition opening - Major G M 'Bolo' Young speaking at the opening(1) | ||||||
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| D Day exhibition opening - Major G M 'Bolo' Young | D Day exhibition opening - Private Jim Brown. | D Day exhibition opening - Major G M 'Bolo' Young speaking at the opening (2). | ||||||
07 February 2004
26 MACHINE-GUN WOUNDS – AND NOW HIS MEDALS COME TO REGIMENTAL MUSEUM
JIM CORNER (L) PRESENTING HIS FATHER'S MEDALS TO
MAJOR ROGER CHAPMAN OF THE GREEN HOWARDS MUSEUM
 CPL WILLIAM CORNER IN GREEN HOWARDS UNIFORM ON HIS WEDDING DAY, 1918 
WILLIAM CORNER AT A TA CAMP ON RICHMOND RACECOURSE, 1912 |
The medals of a Green Howards soldier who survived twenty-six machine-gun bullets in his leg and groin have been presented by his son to the Green Howards Regimental Museum in Richmond. Corporal William Edward Corner from Stokesley joined the 4th (Territorial) Battalion of The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) in 1910, at the age of 19 and was a Lance Corporal when the Battalion was posted to France in April 1915. On 25 April he fought in the Battle of St Julien, and in both the 1st Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the Battle of Arras in 1917. In November 1917 the column of men in which he was marching was ambushed by the Germans near Brandhoek. They were machine-gunned and Cpl Corner was hit 26 times. He was shipped back to hospital in Bristol, but his injuries were such that he was not fit enough to return to the front. In September 1918 he married in Eastbourne and returned to Stokesley with his new wife. One of their three sons, Private Cliff Corner, also served with the 4th Battalion The Green Howards. He was at Dunkirk and was captured in the Western Desert in 1942 by Rommel’s Afrika Corps and imprisoned in Italy. In September the following year, when the Italians signed an armistice, he escaped and eventually reached safety in Switzerland. Corporal William Corner’s medals were handed to the Curator of the Green Howards Museum, Major Roger Chapman, by his youngest son Jim Corner, who still lives in Stokesley. The four medals are the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1920 and the Victory Medal 1914-1919 (collectively known to the recipients as ‘Pip, Squeak and Wilfred’ after contemporary cartoon characters) and the Territorial Decoration. Jim Corner also presented photographs of his father in uniform, including one of him in 1912 at a Territorial Army camp on Richmond racecourse. Thanking Mr Corner for the generous gift, Major Chapman said, ‘It is remarkable to think that Corporal William Corner survived such heavy injuries and lived to the age of 75, dying only in 1966. We are grateful to Mr Corner and his family for presenting us with these precious medals.’ |
04 February 2004
BANNER GOES UP WITH HELP FROM FIRE-FIGHTERS
Fire-Fighters Richard Brown (l) and Kev Errington putting up the banner
Richmond fire-fighters have come to the rescue of the Green Howards Regimental Museum in the centre of Richmond – by climbing high to fix the Museum’s banner.
The Museum occupies one of the most prominent sites in the town, the former Holy Trinity Church in the Market Place. The tall banner, which advertises the Museum, attracts visitors but has was damaged in gales last year. The Museum’s Curator, Major Roger Chapman, called in the fire and rescue service to take down the old banner – and they have just been back to put the new one in place.
Five men from Blue Watch at Richmond Fire Station in Gallowgate
raced to the Museum, and used ladders to hoist the banner in place. Leading
Fire-Fighter Steve Harris and Fire-Fighters Richard Brown, Kev Errington,
and Craig Miller, who were supervised by Sub-Officer Steve Blake, soon had
everything
secure.
Roger Chapman says, ‘We contacted Assistant Divisional Officer Nigel Phillips who readily agreed to help us. The men used the occasion as a training exercise – and they certainly saved us a great deal of hard and dangerous work. We are very grateful to them all.’
To find out more about the Green Howards and the Regimental
Museum, visit
the website at www.greenhowards.org.uk
28 January 2004
GREEN HOWARDS RETURN TO AFGHANISTAN AFTER 85 YEARS
An Afghan man in Kabul
(other photos are available below)
Officers from the 1st Battalion The Green Howards have just returned from a reconnaissance in Afghanistan, to prepare the way for the Battalion’s six-month deployment in the country later this year.
It is 85 years since the Green Howards were last in the country, during the 3rd Afghan war of 1919. Pictures from that time were discovered in the Green Howards Museum’s stores just over a year ago. They show that, although the Green Howards uniform is rather different today, the Afghan people and countryside are virtually unchanged.
The recent visit was led by Lt Col Jim Willis, who takes over as Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion later this month. With him was his second-in command, Major Simon Fovargue and representatives of the four Green Howards Companies that will be stationed in Afghanistan between April and October.
A and B Companies will be working with the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which is helping the Afghan Transitional Authority maintain security in Kabul and the surrounding areas. Support Company will help train the Afghan National Army. This security work is not part of the continuing operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
At the same time C Company will be in the north of the country at Mazar-e-Sharif as part of the UK Provincial Reconstruction Team. It will undertake civil affairs activities that are designed to help the Afghan Transitional Authority to expand its influence in the provinces.
The Green Howards will have more than 300 men in Afghanistan throughout the six months of their tour, while the rest of the Battalion continues to train in its new posting in Chepstow. There will be a regular change-over of the men serving in Afghanistan, and it is expected that all members of the 1st Battalion will spend time in the country..
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| A group of Afghans in 1919 | On the March in Afghanistan 1919. | Camp in Afghanistan 1919 | ||||||
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| A view of Kabul and the mountains. | Lt Col Jim Willis, who will command the 1st Battalion The Green Howards in Kabul | Maj Simon Fovargue , 2i/c the 1st Battalion, in camp at Kabul | ||||||
21 January 2004
RAPID REACTION GENERAL IS DELAYED FOR AFFILIATION DINNER
Alan Starvis,
(Warden of the company of Fellmongers of Richmond.)
A new affiliation of the Green Howards with the Company of Fellmongers of Richmond was celebrated at the Company’s Annual Dinner in the town on Friday 16 January - despite the absence of the Guest of Honour.
Major General Nick Houghton CBE, a Green Howard who is Chief of Staff at the European Rapid Reaction Force, was due to attend the dinner, having flown in during the afternoon from Munchen-Gladbach in Germany. Snow and technical problems at Paris meant that his flight was cancelled - so the Curator of the Green Howards Regimental Museum, Major Roger Chapman, stepped into the breach at two hours’ notice.
In his speech, Major Chapman outlined the history of the Regiment and its links with Richmond. The Regiment has been associated with Yorkshire and Teesside since the 1780s, and with the town since 1873, when the Barracks on Gallowgate Hill was built. From then until 1961 every Green Howard trained in Richmond before joining the Regiment wherever it was stationed.
The link with the Company of Fellmongers is also long-standing, and Major Chapman warmly welcomed the new, formal affiliation. It had been agreed with enthusiasm by the Colonel of the Regiment, Brigadier John Powell, who said it was an honour to all Green Howards. One of the tangled links between the Green Howards and Fellmongers was the presentation by the Company to the Regiment of silver bayonet sheaths, which are used on ceremonial occasions when the Regimental Colours are parades.
Roger Chapman particularly thanked the Warden of the Fellmongers, Mr Alan Starvis, for his generous support of the Regiment, and proposed the toast to the Company of Fellmongers, the origins of which go back to the Middle Ages. Among the 120 people at the Dinner, which was held at the King’s Head in Richmond was the Rt Hon William Hague MP, a Freeman of the Company. Representatives of Guilds and Companies from Richmond, York and London also attended.
21 January 2004
VC HERO’S SON SEES MUSEUM’S NEW D-DAY EXHIBITION
Brian Hollis,at the D-Day exhibition in the Green Howards
Museum
(holding information about his father, Stan Hollis VC)
The son of the only man to win the Victoria Cross on D-Day has visited the Green Howards Museum in Richmond to see the preparations for a new exhibition that will depict D-Day and the Regiment’s role in the operation.
Brian Hollis was invited by the Curator, Major Roger Chapman, to see the exhibition, which opens to the public at the beginning of February. Brian’s father, Sgt Major Stan Hollis, was with D Company of the 6th Battalion The Green Howards, who were among the first to land on D-Day. At Gold Beach he almost single-handedly captured two pillboxes on the Mont Fleury Battery and took more than 20 prisoners, and subsequently rescued two of his men under enemy fire at the village of Crepon – acts for which he was awarded the highest medal for bravery
The new exhibition, which will be officially opened by D-Day veterans on Monday 9 February, displays photographs of the D-Day landings, as well as personal effects, diaries and official documents relating to the invasion and the part played by the Green Howards.
Major Chapman says, ‘The Green Howards are proud of their actions in the D-Day landings, and especially of Sgt Major Hollis. His VC in the Green Howards Museum – one of 16 VCs proudly displayed there out of the 18 won by members of the Regiment over the years. Hollis’s VC will be on show later this year at a special D-Day exhibition at the Imperial War Museum. We were especially pleased to welcome Brian Hollis to see the D-Day exhibition as he is about to emigrate to Australia to live between Brisbane and Cairns, where he will be nearer his sons. We are grateful to him and the whole Hollis family for their generous support for the work of the Museum and the Regiment.’
02 January 2004
GREEN HOWARDS ARE NORTHERN IRELAND BOXING CHAMPIONS – FOR THE SECOND YEAR
The Green Howards Boxing Team
(photos from the contest can be seen beneath the text, below)
For the second year in a row The Green Howards are the Army’s Northern Ireland boxing champions – the first time any Battalion has won the competition in successive years – and they again beat the Royal Irish Regiment to take the title.
The nine-strong boxing team from the 1st Battalion The Green Howards included just three members of the team that last year won all three grades of the Army Novice Championship – the first ever to do so. Success in this year’s Northern Ireland championship means that the new team has reached the semi-final of the national Army competition, which will take place in February.
The match took place on the Green Howards home ground at Shackleton Barracks. The Regiment narrowly lost the first three bouts, but won the last before the interval, when Private Lamb defeated the opposition’s best fighter. The first bout after the interval gave Lance Corporal Bowcock another win for the Green Howards, but the Royal Irish won the next, making the score four to the opposition and two to the Green Howards.
Wins by Green Howards Private Watson and the team captain Corporal Andrew Morrison levelled the score. In the final bout Lance Corporal Reed knocked out his opponent, giving victory to the Green Howards.
The 1st Battalion The Green Howards have been based in Ballykelly
for two years and move to a new posting at Chepstow later this month. In
April they will go to Afghanistan for a six-month tour of duty. After their
return they will train in the jungles of Belize to prepare for rapid deployment
anywhere in the world.
To read previous News Items,
select here.
