Page 140 - RSDG Year of 2023

138 EAGLE AND CARBINE
Fresh from the parade, the Marching Detachment is pictured on the steps at Wellington Barracks before returning to Pirbright
Once more in position outside the Red Lion pub on Parliament Street, on the conclusion of the state funeral service given at Westminster Abbey, we were given the order to reverse arms and so begun The Queen’s final journey through the streets of London. Marching at an unusual funereal pace – slightly quicker than a slow march, without the ‘toes downwards and outwards’ one would expect at that pace – what I could see ahead of me (positioned at the back of the detachment as were now marching in reverse order of precedence) was quite the sight to behold. A long, snaking body of troops including the Colonel of the Regt who was marching in the contingent of Senior Officers, about 100 yards behind the Regimental contingent, winding its way in solemn dignity past some of London’s most famous landmarks; a sight to fill any one of us with pride at the way in which, truly, no one quite does ceremony as well as we do in Britain.
Once the approximately 1.7 miles of the procession had been marched, our last duty was to form a massed guard on the grass bank outside Wellington Arch, watching on as The Queen’s coffin was transferred from the state gun carriage into the state hearse. Standing as we were approx- imately 10 metres from His Majesty The King, flanked
by senior members of the Royal Family – including our Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent – that final moment of the ceremony in London was one to which we had very privileged access.
Returning to Wellington Barracks, onwards to Pirbright, and then finally back to Leuchars, there was plenty of time for all of us to reflect on the occasion of which we had just played our small but important part. It is unlikely that any of us who have served during the late Queen’s reign will live to see another like it. Declaring, as she did on her 21st birthday, that her whole life “whether it be long or short” should be devoted to the service of us, her people, stands as a perfect example for those of us who have in turn given part of our lives to the service of our country. I like to think that I speak for all of us who deployed on Op LONDON BRIDGE when I say that I am extremely proud to have played a small part in ‘sending her victorious’ on her final journey, bringing to a close a life devoted to that promise of service.
Marching Contingent:
Capt GKR Macfarlane Capt J Maclachlan WO2 Mitchell MC WO2 (RQMS) McCall SSgt Colclough
SSgt Grieve Sgt Dornan
Sgt Kelly
SSgt Macquarie SSgt Wright
Sgt McInnes Sgt Crate
Cpl Dominy Cpl Miller
God Save The King.
Cpl Warren Cpl Neil
LCpl Komiyasa LCpl Keith LCpl Nailatica Tpr Smyth
Tpr Coles
Tpr Stevenson Tpr Williams Tpr Hodgkinson Tpr Miller
Tpr Rognaldson