Page 224 - The Rifles Bugle Autumn 2019

Installation of the RGJ and Rifles Rolls of Honour in Christchurch Cathedral Oxford
FOUR
BUGLERS LED
BY BUGLE
MAJOR PHIL
KING THEN
PLAYED
THE LAST
POST AND
REVEILLE
The bi-monthly Turning of the Pages service in Christchurch on 2 March marked the historic addition of the new RGJ/Rifles Rolls of Honour in the Cathedral for safekeeping, inclusion in commemorations services and in the Cathedral’s prayers. For the first time on that day, in a packed regimental chapel and henceforth, five names from each regiment will be read out in addition to those from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars.
General Sir Robert Pascoe KCB MBE who served in the Oxf & Bucks and commanded 1RGJ from 1971 -1974 in BAOR and on two tours in Northern Ireland was the guest of Honour.
The service began with the regimental calls of the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars, the Oxf&Bucks LI, the RGJ and The Rifles. The new Roll of Honour was then marched down the aisle escorted by eight cadets. Under the watchful eye of General Pascoe, Cadet C/Sjt Smith presented the book to Major Terry Roper Chairman of the Oxford Branch RGJA, who placed it in the specially designed cabinet.
The service then included the reading by WOII Roy Stephens of five names from the Oxf and Bucks from WWI and a further five from WWII. Five names from the RGJ were then read out by Terry Roper and five from The Rifles by Cadet C/SJt Smith of Oxfordshire (The Rifles) Battalion ACF, representing the next generation of riflemen. Each reading was followed by the respective regimental call and collect. The names read out from The Rifles were:
Four buglers led by Bugle Major Phil King then played the Last Post and Reveille with the Evocation and Kohima Epitaph read by Phil Morrison MM.
The Regimental Calls
Turning of the Pages services are held at 1100 on the first Saturday in January, March, May, July and Sep, with a special service on Remembrance Day 11 Nov and will be advertised on SWIFT. The first service in 2020 will be on 4 Jan. A formal Dedication of the Rolls of Honour is being planned.
Family members of those riflemen listed in the Rolls of Honour are particularly welcome. Anyone who wishes the name of a family member to be read out at a future Turning of the Pages please contact Terry Roper through: chosenmanroper@ gmail.com
Volunteers to read out the names at services should contact Colonel Mike Vince through: mike. vince.500@gmail.com
ALL WELCOME – Parking is available for those attending the services on the Broad Walk, through the Arch to the South of the college on St Aldates OX1 1DP
THE RIFLES
Rfn Stuart Winston Nash, 1 Rifles, 17 December 2008, Afghanistan Lieut Paul Daniel Mervis, 2 Rifles, 12 June 2009, Afghanistan
LCpl Daniel David Cooper, 3 Rifles, 24 January 2010, Afghanistan Rfn Sheldon Steel, 5 Rifles, 27 November 2011, Afghanistan
Lieut Andrew Chesterman, 3 Rifles, 9 August 2012, Afghanistan
222 RIFLES OFFICES AND ASSOCIATIONS
THE RIFLES
General Sir Robert Pascoe with Major Michael Hrycak OC A Coy 7 Rifles