Page 137 - RSDG Year of 2023

Pictured front right, the SCOTS DG Marching Detachment forms up with the rest of the parade at Wellington Barracks
occasion, as well as the sense of pride we felt to be able to play our part escorting our late Colonel-in-Chief on her final journal from Westminster Abbey to her final resting place in Windsor.
8th September 2022 was an ominously dark and wet day in Leuchars, and as I sat in my office listening to the increas- ingly dispiriting speculation about The Queen’s health, I had cause to become quite concerned about what was to happen if Op LONDON BRIDGE were to be activated. With B Squadron still deployed in Mali and the rest of the regiment having just that week deployed on the Mission Rehearsal Exercise for their impending deployment to relieve them, I found myself as Officer Commanding the Rear Operations Group becoming increasingly more nervous about what might happen with so few of the regiment available at home.
When the sad news of The Queen’s death broke later in the day, I was immediately given cause for any nervousness to subside. As ever, the ROG was a slimmed down but ‘rank heavy’ organisation and so, ably assisted by (amongst others) WO2 (RQMS) McCall, WO2 (SSM) Mitchell MC, SSgt (SQMS) Grieve and SSgt (SQMS) Colclough, 24 men and women were quickly assembled, and the LONDON BRIDGE store was cracked open. Readers from across the generations who have spent hours in that store – accounting for, maintaining and cleaning the kit – will be pleased to hear that their efforts were not in vain, as we were quickly able to pull together the uniform and equipment we would need to outfit the detachment for the c. 10 days of rehearsals and the parade that lay ahead.
On 11th September, after attending a service at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh – seated nearby to the standard which we had laid up in December 2019 – I watched the funeral cortege arrive at the Palace of Holyrood House before listening to the Lord Lyon King of Arms read the proclamation of His Majesty The King’s accession from the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh. At this stage I was still awaiting orders to deploy to the ‘concen- tration area’ at Pirbright Training Camp, where I knew we would be undertaking our rehearsals for the funeral parade. I didn’t have to wait long, as later that afternoon I received a phone call from Headquarters Joint Military Command (London) telling me that my and my Sergeant Major’s attendance was required at a briefing to be held in the Guards Chapel in London – the following morning! A tight turnaround, but not outwith the art of the possible. It would also give us a chance to link up with Major Jack Baillie who, as Quartermaster London District, was leading a team that had sprung into action immediately following the death notification, and so soon after having delivered to such a high standard for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Attending the rehearsal briefing with WO2 (SSM) Mitchell MC in London the following morning, the sheer size and complexity of the operation began to dawn on me. Walking around central London to be shown our ‘marks’ for halting, turning, standing at ease, etc., the sheer length of the procession that was going to be involved became apparent, with marks all along the pavement from either side of Westminster Abbey, all the way along Parliament Street and Whitehall, through Horse Guards Arch and across Horse Guards Parade. As the senior line regiment
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