Regiment (From Barry And District News)

Regiment

IN the Barry and District News edition of January 20, R B Donovan, of Bridgend and of the District Royal Welch Fusiliers Comrades Association, called for the identity and traditions of the RWF to be preserved, as much as possible.

As the scion of a family of RW Fusiliers, I wholeheartedly support this campaign.

Many generations of my family have served with the regiment.

My mother was born in the RWF barracks in High Town, Wrexham, in 1908; my grandfather fought with them at Pekin (now Beijing) in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900; my uncle in Burma; my brother in Berlin.

I and an uncle were black sheep' as we served in the RAF.

The RWF is not just a regiment. It is predominantly North-Walian and Welsh-speaking - to confuse the enemy.

It has spawned famous artists (David Jones); actors (Jack Hawkins; Ken Barlow' of Coronation Street); politicians (Lord Chalfont; Lord Crickhowell); and writers (Siegfried Sassoon; Wilfred Owen; Robert Graves).

The White Hackle, the Black Flash, the ceremonial goat, the spelling Welch not Welsh, the German motto Ich Dien' (I Serve), should all be preserved with the oldest infantry regiment in the British Army, not scrapped.

Best wishes to the campaigners trying to do so.

Christopher Short

Ex-RAF Regiment

Redbrink Crescent

Barry Island