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The Royal Irish Fusiliers Chapel was dedicated on St Patrick’s Day 1950, in memory of all ranks of the Regiment and of the affiliated Militia Regiments of the Counties of Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan who were killed in two world wars.
The Royal Irish Fusiliers
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The Royal Irish Regiment's Regimental Chapel is situated in the north transept of Belfast Cathedral and was dedicated on 6 June 1981.
Construction of the cathedral began in 1899 and in 1976 a fund was launched to complete the original design and include a north transept. The Colonel of The Regiment requested his Advisory Council to study with the cathedral authorities how best the Regiment could help and, at the same time, provide a spiritual home for the Regiment.
On the evening of 7 November 1920 Brigadier General L J Wyatt DSO, Director of Graves Registrations in France, entered a small chapel at Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise near Arras. There the remains of four unidentified British soldiers, recovered from four different battlefields of the Great War, lay in simple coffins covered with Union flags. Wyatt did not know one from another and with his eyes closed, he placed his hand on one of the coffins. In this simple act Britain's Unknown Warrior was chosen.
At the beginning of December 1917, both the the 2nd and the 5th/6th Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers moved up to the front near Beit Sura to the north-west of Jerusalem. The Turks had withdrawn from the Holy City and General Allenby's forces entered the city on 9 December. The public at home had their 'Christmas Present' from Allenby when he entered the city on foot on 11 December.
RANGERS, commanded by Lt Col J W Rollins MBE R IRISH, attended Annual Camp, Exercise COSSACK EXPRESS, in Ukraine from 18 September - 2 October 1999.
RANGERS, commanded by Lt Col G P Bettesworth R IRISH, and reduced by Strategic Defence Review changes from three to two rifle companies (A and B), attended Annual Camp at Otterburn Training Area, Northumberland National Park from 9 - 23 September 2000.
Camp was in two distinct parts; the first week concentrated on training cadres and the second week was Ex RURAL RANGER, a patrol based battalion exercise. The camp period was affected by major electrical storms and the September 2000 fuel crisis.
RANGERS, commanded by Lt Col G P Bettesworth R IRISH, attended Annual Camp and Exercise RED SHANK for two weeks on SPTA (Salisbury Plain Training Area), Wiltshire during June 2001. This deployment replaced Ex PRICKLY PEAR which should have been held in Florida USA, but was cancelled due to the UK 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
RANGERS, commanded by Lt Col A C J McCord MBE R IRISH, attended Annual Camp, including Exercise SHAMROCK MUSTER, at Magilligan Training Centre, Co Londonderry, Northern Ireland from 11 - 25 May 2002.
The first week consisted of a number of training cadres run by the NI Specialist Training Team including Hazardous Material handling, Basic Instructional Technique, Assistant NBC Instructor and Basic Range (Shooting) Coaching.
