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In February 1952, the 1st Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was stationed in the Suez Canal Zone in Egypt. The battalion had been rushed there in late 1951 with the rest of the 3rd Infantry Division following action by the elected nationalist Egyptian Wafd party to revoke the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936. The treaty had allowed the United Kingdom to station forces along the Canal to protect the UK’s vital interest in the short sea link to oilfields in the Arabian Gulf and the British Empire east of Suez. The Battalion’s base was a tented camp planted on a stark stretch of desert sand some nine miles from the canal itself.
The Axis forces, consisting of the 1st Italian Army and most of the German Africa Corps, officially surrendered on 13 May 1943 in Tunisia when some 230,000 were taken prisoner.
Thomas Norman Samuel Wheeler was born in Worcester, England, on 16 June 1915 and died on 21 September 1990. His father, Thomas Henry Wheeler, served in the 3rd Hussars in the Boer War and later in the 4th Battalion The Worcestershire Regiment before joining the South African Police as the Director of Music. Norman Wheeler was educated at Waterkloof House in South Africa, St Helen's College in Southsea and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
This photograph was taken by Sergeant Rupert Frere, who was 16 Air Assault Brigade's photographer in Afghanistan, and it was judged the best operational image in that year's Army Photographic Competition.
The first Roman Catholic soldier in The Ulster Defence Regiment to be murdered by terrorists was Private Russell who was shot dead by the IRA in front of his family while they were watching television in their home on 8 December 1971. He was the fourth UDR soldier of a total of five killed in 1971.
The Bands, Bugles, Pipes and Drums, and the dancers of The Royal Irish Rangers made their first appearance at the Royal Tournament at Earls Court in London from 11 - 28 July 1973.
Most people know about the Christmas Truce of 1914, but there was also a truce at New Year. From New Year’s Eve, the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers was in the front line trenches near Ploegsteert, Belgium. Just after midnight the German soldiers left their trenches under a white flag and walked into no man’s land. A German soldier offered this bottle full of cognac to Captain George Hill; when Hill hesitated the German soldier took a sip and said 'Not poison'.
The only Irish Infantry Regiment at Waterloo
The Battle Honour ALBERT 1916 is emblazoned on the King’s Colour of The Royal Irish Regiment.
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