Airborne Assault MuseumArticle
Northern Ireland (Operation Banner)
A brief honeymoon as peace keepers between two warring communities locked in civil unrest descended into a virtual civil war ...
Philip Frederick King enlisted into the Parachute Regiment, as a 15 year old in January 1968. He served as a Junior Infantryman with Junior Parachute Company (Coy) until completing P Coy.Private King Passed Out with 334 Platoon on 11 January 1969 and was posted to 2 Platoon, A Coy, The 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (1 PARA) in Northern Ireland on Operation Banner. On return to the UK he went to New Brunswick, Canada with 1 PARA and gained his Canadian para wings before returning to Northern Ireland until May 1972. But he was soon to return again on Operation Motorman later that year.
Private King then went on a United Nations tour on Cyprus before moving to Berlin with 1 PARA for two years.
In 1976 Lance Corporal King left regular service and joined the Territorial Army (TA) with 16th (Lincoln) Independent Company The Parachute Regiment which was renamed 16 Indep Coy PARA (V) that year.
Starting his TA career as a Private, he served with 15 PARA (SV) from 1977-84 with whom he went to Italy and America and gained his American para wings.
Warrant Officer II King went to 4 PARA in 1986 and commissioned late year.
4 PARA Second-in-Charge (2iC) Captain King retired in 1990.
Service History
- 1968 Junior Parachute Company (Junior Infantry)
- 1969 The 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment (1 PARA) (Lance Corporal)
- 1976 16th Lincoln Company (V) (Lance Corporal)
- 1977 The 15th Battalion The Parachute Regiment (15 PARA SV) (Warrant Officer Class 2)
- 1986 The 4th Battalion The Parachute Regiment (4 PARA) (Captain)
