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From: "Bernard de Neumann" <>
Subject: [GALLANTRY-AWARDS] Conspicuous Gallantry Cross awarded to RoyalIrish Regiment
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 20:28:10 +0100


The Queen has awarded the Royal Irish Regiment the Conspicuous Gallantry
Cross at a ceremony in Belfast.

The parade at the Balmoral Showgrounds was held to mark the disbandment of
the regiment's three home service battalions.

Several thousand members of the regiment, and its predecessor the UDR,
attended the ceremony.

"Your contribution to peace and stability in Northern Ireland is unique,"
she said.


The Queen said the regiment "had never flinched despite suffering extreme
personal intimidation".


"Today you have cause to reflect on the fine achievements, while remembering
the suffering," she added.


I was obviously thinking of him today as well, but I was also thinking of
everyone else in the regimental family who has lost a loved one over the
years


The three home service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment will be
disbanded next July.

More than 60,000 men and women have served in the RIR or UDR since 1970.

The rain-soaked parade was attended by a range of political figures, current
and former members of the regiments, disabled veterans and relatives of many
of the 274 soldiers killed by the IRA and other republican paramilitaries.

Some 300 home service soldiers drawn from the Holywood-based 2nd Battalion,
the Armagh-based 3rd Battalion, and the Omagh-based 4th Battalion took part
in the ceremony at the showgrounds.

They were accompanied by musicians from the band of the Royal Irish Regiment
and 100 former UDR soldiers of the Regimental Association.


The Duke of York, the RIR's colonel-in-chief, also attended the ceremony.

Guests included Secretary of State Peter Hain, Church of Ireland Primate
Lord Eames, DUP leader Ian Paisley, UUP peer Lord Trimble and Ulster
Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey.

Among those who met the Queen were SDLP deputy and South Belfast MP Alasdair
McDonnell, and party colleague Pat McCarthy, the city's lord mayor.

However, they did not attend the subsequent ceremony.


The home service battalions are being disbanded because of the end of
Operation Banner, which is what the Army called its support role for the
police during the Troubles.


The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross was received by Corporal Claire Withers,
whose father - Corporal Trelford Withers - was the last serving RIR soldier
to be killed by terrorist action.

Today is deeply significant, it is about bringing an honourable and
dignified closure to 36 years of continuous operational service


RIR home battalions history


It is the first time the medal - second only to the Victoria Cross - has
been awarded to a military unit rather than an individual serviceman.

Trelford Withers, 46, was shot dead on 8 August 1994 as he worked in his
butcher's shop in Crossgar, County Down.

Claire Withers, 30, said she thought about her father every day.

"I was obviously thinking of him today as well, but I was also thinking of
everyone else in the regimental family who has lost a loved one over the
years," she said.


'Peaceful society'


Colonel Mark Campbell, who was among those attending, said today's peaceful
society could not have been achieved without the RIR's help.


"Today is deeply significant, it is about bringing an honourable and
dignified closure to 36 years of continuous operational service," he said.


"During this time, 60,000 men and women - full-time and part-time - served
within the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Irish Homes Service.


"Two hundred and seventy four serving and ex-members paid the ultimate
sacrifice - and many more carry physical and psychological scars."

The vast majority of the 210 soldiers killed were attacked while they were
off-duty, and another 64 were killed after they had left the Army.

Bernard de Neumann


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