Why is the there not to true Royal Green Jackets Memorial at the NMA.
Was this the biggest insult to the RGJ, a Corporate Badge on the RGJ Memorial
at the NMA.
“No Rifleman ever served under this Badge”
( THE RGJA WAS NEVER A REGIMENT, BUT THE ROYAL GREEN JACKETS WAS )
WHY IS A COMMERCIAL / CORPORATE BADGE BEING USED ON
THE RGJ MEMORIAL AT THE NMA ?
The Memorial was endorsed by The RGJRA.
“WHY DID HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II
THE COLONEL IN CHIEF OF
THE ROYAL GREEN JACKETS
NOT UNVEIL THE CORPORATE RGJRA MEMORIAL ?”
NO ONE EVER SERVED UNDER THE BADGE BEING USED ON THE RGJ MEMORIAL.
Simple wording might have been better than a Corporate / Commercial Badge ?
(NO ONE EVER SERVED UNDER THESE CORPORATE BADGES)
SO SIMPLE WORDING MIGHT HAVE BEEN BETTER.
A TOTAL INSULT TO ALL WHO DIED AND TO ALL WHO SERVED IN
THE ROYAL GREEN JACKETS
Work started during 2015 on the area in front of the RGJ memorial to stop the area from flooding.
But;
During the month of January 2016 under a shroud of secrecy,
The Royal Green Jackets memorial was replaced.
The Royal Green Jackets Regimental Memorial Dedication
was held on Sunday 11th May 2008
The link below is from The RGJRA link of the event
http://www.greenjackets-net.org.uk/assoc_new/regtl_history/short_report.htm
The Men where so proud on this day, photographs where taken by all after the unveiling, and spirits where high.
The Royal Green Jackets CORPORATE Memorial
With The Royal Green Jackets Commercial Badge that is not issued by the MOD
(NO ONE SPOTTED THE RGJ CORPORATE BADGE)
The Memorial area was prone to flooding, as no risk assessment had been carried out it seems,
but was this the real reason it was changed ?
The Badge appeared to look squat on the memorial
(The Badges above are RGJ Commercial Badges from Marketing RGJ)
(Please note that this badge is not the one that was worn upon the beret)
Nor the one supplied by The MOD is this a RGJ Commercial Badge used by Marketing RGJ
As the memorial was on a slant the defect went un-noticed for years by many it seems.
When the rag was a flag, and the staff was a Pole, As a youth I would think of when they were whole.
But now I’m a man and old I might be. But my BADGE is still here for all to see.———
By Phil Pickford.
The Stone Mason who built the original Memorial was
Young Johnson
of Wiltshire
West Wiltshire Craft Centre, Storridge Rd, Westbury BA13 4HU
The Original memorial cost was stated in The RGJRA Journal
to be £15,000
When the memorial was replaced, the Lord Bramall plaque is now virtually covered by the memorial.
It looks like its been tucked under the memorial
Members of the public where discouraged from taking any photos as the work was being carried out we are told.
Also the plaque of the Ox and Bucks 43rd & 52nd as has now been replaced.
This was the 2008 version
This was pointed out by a fellow Rifleman to members within the RGJ over a 2 year period
This is the 2015 /16 version
Lord Bramalls Speech
Given at
The Royal Green Jackets Regimental Memorial Dedication held on Sunday 11th May 2008
What a beautiful day; even if a bit exacting for those of more advancing years and with weather more like Malaysia, Kenya or Cyprus but well done for turning up in such marvellous numbers and some of you from very long ways away. God knows what time Reveille must have gone for some of you this morning!
As one of the first Commanding Officers of the Royal Green Jackets at its inception – and still I am glad to say around today – after the end of the 41 years of the Regiment’s proud service as an active regiment of the British Army, I am so very delighted, and so I know is Avril my wife, to be here with you today, particularly to remember and to pay tribute to the 133 of our comrades – in – arms who were killed on duty or as a result of terrorist activity since World War II and whose names are inscribed individually on that very impressive Armed Forces Memorial at the foot of which we had that lovely and moving service taken by the Rev. Colin Fox and also of course to unveil a special single regiment granite memorial in proud memory of all Riflemen who served in the Royal Green Jackets between January 1966 to January 2007 – and which I will do right now.
Never can a single Regiment have acquired and sustained such a distinguished reputation in such a short time. It’s true that it started with a very fine pedigree, being itself the union in January 1966 of three very famous Regiments: The Oxfordshire and Buckingham Light Infantry (the 43rd & 52nd), the King’s Royal Rifle Corps (the 60th Rifles) and the Rifle Brigade (the 95th) – perhaps today we might say “Sharps Own” – all of whom had won great renown, in bygone days, as light troops and skirmishers, heroes in the first Battle of Ypres which probably saved the Empire and in more recent times as airborne troops, motorised and mechanised infantry, and as doughty and skilful fighters in both the desert and the jungle. We could not have had a better start.
Since that union, the Regiment has served all over the world, in every continent and theatre of operations. It has won high praise and recognition for its fighting spirit, its initiative, its ability to innovate and improvise, so essential in modern conflict and its propensity for forward thinking, both tactically and in the leadership of men.
Moreover, The Royal Green Jackets, at every level and rank, including very much our Territorial’s, have played a notable, distinctive and highly respected part in all the worldwide activities and operations in which the British Army has been so constantly engaged during the Regiment’s lifespan; and have left their mark on how the British Army has developed and carried out its duty. Throughout, the Regiment itself has been engaged in an immensely varied range of tasks, from fighting in the jungles of Borneo in South-East Asia during Indonesia’s confrontation with Malaysia; – and you will notice that I am carrying a stick called a “Penang Lawyer” – many of you will remember Penang – through West Germany and Berlin at the height of the Cold War, on the streets of Northern Ireland in those lengthy constrained yet sometimes highly dangerous and successful operations, to aid the civil power, to peacekeeping and peace enforcement in Cyprus, the Balkans and Sierra Leone and finally in the on-going hard battling in the Middle East over the last five years; to say nothing of garrison duties in Hong Kong, Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands. Talk about covering the waterfront!
So our gathering today, brother Riflemen, closes a historic chapter in the history of the British Army, as the proud and highly effective Royal Green Jackets merge still further, in the ever-widening grouping of Infantry to form yet another single, but this time much larger Regiment, with five Regular and two Territorial Battalions and not forgetting our Cadets, thus offering even wider opportunities and experience to all Riflemen, as they face the new challenges of the twenty-first century.
As you all know, the new Regiment, ‘The Rifles’, will, by its uniform and accoutrements, drill and military music and above all, its ethos of ‘Swift and Bold’, with strong self discipline yet a light touch be in every sense a Rifle regiment in which the legacy of the Royal Green Jackets has certainly not been lost. Indeed, at this very moment, in Chepstow, in Ballykinler (Northern Ireland), in Germany, in Bulford, in Edinburgh, Reading, Exeter and in London there is being created a new very modern regiment in which we can all have every confidence and which in future will be fully worthy of both our loyalty and our pride.
But, of course, our own Royal Green Jackets Association and some earlier associations will, most importantly, continue and with the same enthusiasm, giving plenty of opportunity for those of us growing older to keep in touch with their old friends and comrades-in-arms and go on remembering with pride and affection the old Regiments in which we served and in which we had such memorable times and experiences.
So then brother Riflemen as you march past, and I am so proud to be taking the salute. The last time there was a big do like this at Winchester, I was the ‘Right Marker’, but this time I’ve been given a more static role in deference to my age. But as you march past on this very special parade of the Royal Green Jackets Veterans, you can do so with immense pride in the past which can never be extinguished or taken away from you and at the same time with every confidence in the future and in to those to whom you will have now passed on the torch and as you can appreciate from the superb way that the two battalions of The Rifles are taking our legacy forward, when they served recently in Iraq.
So finally before asking Maj Gen Jamie Balfour to read to us those immortal lines from Laurence Binyon’s famous poem to the fallen and then after suitable Bugle Calls and the Anthem and ordering my old comrade – in – arms Maj Roy Stanger to “carry on” may I for old time sake give one final order? – Field Marshals don’t give many orders these days – to you Rifleman – not your wives of course – and say “Look to your Front” – “Royal Green Jackets”.
Thank you.
By Kind Permission of Field Marshal The Lord Bramall of Bushfield
The Royal Green Jackets Memorial
has now got a crack on the base of one of the legs, this was spotted on Monday 7th November 2016.
Remembrance Service Saturday 11th November 2017
(Above members of the Regiment saluting the RGJ CORPORATE BADGE)
The RGJ Memorial at Alrewas was unveiled on 11th May 2008 and as far as we know this is the first Remembrance Service
to take place since then and the crack at the base of The RGJ Memorial still remains.
The Royal Green Jackets Memorial
Surrounded by water at Alrewas as of 25th March 2018
It looks like the raising of the Memorial and drainage did not work.
In the June of 2018 The Royal Green Jackets Memorial was repainted
but it still bares an incorrect RGJ Cap Badge, the Badge on The RGJ Memorial is not the one worn by the men on the beret
or issued by the MOD it is that of a commercial entente from marketing RGJ
The Tribute and Memory Chair sited outside The Royal Green Jackets / Rifles Museum Winchester
bares the only 2 correct Badges of the Green Jackets Brigade and The Royal Green Jackets.
It was also stated on a Facebook page by Ricky Tyson (MM) that the chair are made of a Kitchen Worktop Granite,
he says he was told this by the Royal Green Jackets Museum, so just to clarify, the Tribute and Memory chair are both made from solid Tropical Green Granite.
We cannot confirm what type of stone the RGJA Memorial is made of ?
perhaps Ricky Tyson (MM) was referring to the RGJA Memorial being made of Kitchen Worktop Granite ?
(This Badge is an MOD issued Badge unlike the one used on the RGJ Memorial)
The History of
The Royal Green Jackets Cap Badge
The Crown, indicates that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the
Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Green Jackets.
PENINSULA, a Battle Honour awarded to all three antecedent Regiments after the Peninsular War,
The Royal Green Jackets major Battle Honour.
The Maltese Cross, both the 60th Rifles and The Rifle Brigade have worn a Maltese Cross since shorty after The Peninsular War.
The Bugle Horn, has long been the symbol of the Light Troops in The British Army,
all three antecedent Regiments have been wearing it since The Peninsular War.
The Laurel Wreath, The whole badge is encircled by the wreath of Victory.
COPENHAGEN April 1801, surmounting the navel crown.
A Battle Honour awarded to The Rifle Brigade
for the battle of Copenhagen.
The Royal Green Jackets motto Swift and Bold was adopted from
The former KRRC motto (Celer et Audax)
Sourced from Google, Face Book and Other