miniatures

When Lt. Col. Joe Osullivan took over as CO of 2 Para he was informed by the outgoing CO, then, Lt. Col. James Chiswell MC of the work the reunion club had done in the past undertaking various projects to support the Battalion. He informed us of his vision to see every man that had lost his life in action while serving in 2 Para since the end of WW11 to be recognised in some special way. His suggestion was to reproduce all medals they held at the time of their death in miniature. These would then be framed and placed in a prominent position at the new Merville Barracks. He asked if we, the reunion club would take this on as a latest project, this of course we agreed to.

With great support from C/Sgt James Childs, who identified the names, medals, and in which campaigns these men had lost their lives we set about aquiring them. With the Battalion away on Operation Herrick 8 in Afghanistan there was a lot of long distance correspondence, and by early August we had just about got there. Sadly as we all now know the list got longer as the Btn lost members during the tour. However every one of those men's names and medals are included. The medals were sent to Colchester on the Battalion's return where they would be framed.

The CO and RSM kindly invited Dave, Roly, and myself to travel to Colchester on December 11th which was the day of the Chistmas dinner to formerly present the medals to the Battalion on behalf of the 2 Para Reunion Club. We were given a very warm reception by the guys and after the dinner were invited to both the Sgts and Officers mess's for the obligitory drinks. Not all the frames were brought to the presentation, and as the Battalion is still in the process of moving into the new barracks the finished frames are not yet hung in place. They will eventually be hung at Battalion HQ outside the CO's and RSM's offices for all to see.

Below are some of the photos I took on the day,,,,,,,,,,,,

Al.