Goodbye Green Howards

FORMED in 1688 for service under William, Prince of Orange after a call for loyal men, the soldiers of the Green Howards have maintained that tradition of loyalty and bravery for more than 300 years.

The unit has fought with distinction in nearly every major campaign – the French Wars of 1697-1793, the American War of Independence, Crimean War, First and Second World Wars, Suez, Malaya, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, the wars in the Gulf and, most recently, Afghanistan.

That distinction is highlighted by the 18 Victoria Crosses that have been awarded to Green Howards soldiers.

They include Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, from Loftus, east Cleveland, the only man to win the VC on D-Day.

After landing on Gold Beach, Sgt Maj Hollis cleared an enemy stronghold while he and his men were under fire from German soldiers, killing two and capturing the remainder.

Later the same day, the soldier attacked a field gun, and was grazed on the right cheek by a sniper’s bullet before he destroyed the gun position.

Then, again under fire, he diverted the enemy while two of his men, who were trapped by the Germans, escaped.

After the war, Sgt Maj Hollis returned to his parents’ fish shop in North Ormesby, before becoming a sandblaster in a nearby steelworks.

For a couple of years he worked in a garage in Darlington, before going into the pub trade on Teesside.

Other notable Green Howards include Donald Bell, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, who was the only English professional footballer to have received the medal.

A noted sportsman at college, while studying he played as an amateur with Crystal Palace and later for Newcastle United before the First World War.

Although the regiment that was to become the Green Howards was formed in 1688, it was not until 1744 that the unit got its name, when two regiments, both of which were commanded by men called Howard, fought at the same battle during the Wars of Austrian Succession.

To avoid confusion, the regiment commanded by the Honorable Charles Howard was called the Green Howards, because it had green facings on its uniform.

The other, with buff facings, became known as the Buff Howards.

The nickname the Green Howards stuck and in 1920 it was adopted as the regiment’s official title.

The regiment first became associated with, and affiliated to, the North Riding of Yorkshire in 1782 when it was granted the title of The 19th (First Yorkshire North Riding Regiment) of Foot.

But it was not until 1873 that Richmond, in North Yorkshire, became the regiment’s home town.

In 1875, the then Princess of Wales, who later became Queen Alexandra, presented the regiment with new colours, to replace those that had been carried throughout the Crimean War.

The regiment was then granted the title of The Princess of Wales’s Own.

In 1881, on the introduction of the territorial system, the name changed once more, when it became known as The Princess of Wales’s Own Yorkshire Regiment.

Following the South African War, the word Alexandra was added.

Finally, in 1920 the title of the regiment became The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own Yorkshire Regiment).

MEN from the regiment have fought in many major conflicts since its first campaign at the Battle of the Boyne in the 1690s.

It took part in the American War of Independence in 1774, was stationed in Ceylon for a long period and fought in both the Crimean and Boer Wars.

During the First World War, 24 battalions of the regiment were raised with a total of 65,000 soldiers serving in the ranks. Of these, more than 7,500 lost their lives.

Between the wars, the regiment took part in the third Afghan War of 1919, operations in Palestine during 1939, the Waziristan operations of 1937 to 1939, and many other internal security duties overseas, including in Shanghai between 1927 and 1930.

During the Second World War, the regiment fought in Norway, the Western desert, Sicily, Italy, Burma, France, Holland and Germany.

Since then, it has served in locations including Norway, Italy, Burma, France, Holland and Sicily. Two battalions took part in the DDay landings in 1944.

Members of the 1st Battalion took part in the Falklands War, in both Gulf wars, in Bosnia and in Kosovo.

The regiment’s first colonel in chief was Princess Alexandra, whose daughter married Prince Carl of Denmark, later King Haakon VII of Norway.

Since then the King of Norway has always been the colonel in chief, a post held at present by King Harald V.

The Green Howards was one of only two English regiments never to have been merged with another unit.

This record was lost in 2006 when the regiment was downgraded to a battalion, becoming 2nd Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards).

But this was merely a precursor to yesterday’s announcement by the Defence Secretary which means the unit’s 324-history will end in autumn next year when the 2 Yorks troops join the remaining two Yorkshire Regiment battalions.