1st Battalion Medal Parade

1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment - Colour Party [Photo: Cpl Williams RLC]

The 1st Battalion's Medals Parade held on Friday 17 July 2009 at Oxford Barracks, Munster.  Operational medals were presented to the Battalion for service in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan during 2008-2009.

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On 17 July 2009, two-hundred men of the 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment formed up to receive campaign medals for service in recent tours of Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan.  The parade was held at Oxford Barracks in Munster on a lovely day with families, friends and dignitaries from the Yorkshire area watching the spectacle.
 
The Band of the Gurkhas played music as the soldiers marched on the square to be receive their medals from General Sir Nicholas Houghton KCB CBE, Colonel of The Yorkshire Regiment.  This was the first time the Battalion had paraded together this year due to their multiple tasks, performed in various overseas theatres within the last ten months.  The Colonel of the Regiment was joined by Commander 20 Armoured Brigade and the Lord Mayor of York in presenting the awards.
 
Battalion Headquarters, C Company and Support Company returned from southern Iraq in April and May where they carried out various training and security roles.  They were among the last combat troops to withdraw from Iraq (Operation TELIC 13).
 
A Company were the last infantry unit in 20 Armoured Brigade to leave Iraq.  They were based in Baghdad, carrying out an important security role as Protection Force (PROFOR) Company.
 
B Company were the first to go on operations in September 2008 and therefore first to return to Munster in March 2009.  They spent six months as the UK's Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Task Force (ISR TF)) monitoring and policing the peace in Kosovo.  They were also one of the last units to serve in that theatre of operations (Operation OCULUS (Kosovo)).
 
The weather finally cleared as the Colonel of the Regiment finished by presenting Accumulated Service Medals, Commanding Officers Commendations and a Mention In Dispatches to selected soldiers.  During the parade, Private Andrew Troup had his Mention in Dispatches read out for his actions while on operations in Afghanistan.
 
Once he gave a brief speech, the Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Jonny Price OBE, asked permission for the Battalion to march off.  The band struck up and the Commanding Officer took his place at the head of Battalion, as the Colonel of The Regiment took the salute.
 
Additional pictures and a video clip will appear here shortly.