9th Parachute Battalion Battle Honour Club

An extract from the speech I gave at the Annual Club Dinner on Saturday 4th October:

This year marks a number of important milestones. Firstly, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of France. Following closely behind, the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe, and also the 80th anniversary of VJ Day. But of course, most important for all of us tonight, the 81st Anniversary of D-Day and the actions in Normandy and Merville, in which so many of our family members were involved.

It’s also a time for remembering fondly the other friends and family members that we’ve lost recently. Many of you will be aware of the passing of Geoff Pattinson’s wife Audrey, in March of this year. We also heard recently about the sad loss of Rita Daniels, who passed away earlier this week. A wonderful and fun lady, Rita attended many pilgrimages over the year and leaves us with many special memories. Both will be sadly missed.

As we look back to the anniversaries and memories, we must also look forwards. This club and its members are vital in the role of keeping the memory of Merville, Chateau St Come and all of the other actions of our veterans alive, through commemorating their action, and remembering their bravery. They all sacrificed so much for our freedom.

But we are, it has to be said, no longer a ‘Reunion Club’. After more than six decades of veterans meeting up to remember their exploits in France – and the friends they left behind – those reunions are part of our history now, not part of our present. For this reason, after many deliberations, the committee has taken the decision to update the name of the club to more accurately represent the future commemoration and memory of the triumph at the Merville Battery.

From today, the club will now be known as the “9th Parachute Battalion Battle Honour Club”.

The new name focuses on the prominence of the battalion’s action in the context of the Parachute Regiment achievements; indeed Merville remains one of the most significant operations in the history of the Parachute Regiment, and is recognised as one of the Regiment’s official Battle Honours.

This is a change of name, but will not change who we are, or why we’re here. This name change is merely to reflect the change from a reunion club of those who served, to a commemoration club to remember the actions of those who served. It will focus on Merville, Normandy and Operation Tonga – and we will continue to commemorate those actions every year. The new name does not mean we are opening up the club to the general public; membership will continue to be made up – as it always has – of the families of the veterans who served in the 9th Battalion, and extremely close friends and associates of the battalion and its veterans.