‘We Few’

NMA 50th Anniversary of the Guards Parachute Association and Disbandment of the Guards Independent Parachute Company - 25th October 2025. Given on Behalf of the Founder of the Association, Major General Sir Robert Corbett, by the President of the Association, Colonel Simon Falkner.

"To be here with you again, almost exactly 4 years after the unveiling of this fine Memorial, and to be standing beside Tom once more; he who was the epitome of an Airborne Guardsman, makes this a very special day, for me certainly and for all of us as well, I am sure. We unveiled Tom on 8th October almost four years ago to this day and to be back once more beside him is a great honour. And what a remarkable occasion this truly is - a double remembrance of two events which, for sure, have a very special significance for all of us here - the 50th Anniversary of the disbandment of the Guards Independent Parachute Company and the founding, as its counterpoint, of the Guards Parachute Association - and thank you, each and every one of you, for being here.

I would like to make particular mention, if I may, of the Major General for whose support, and for the enduring interest and assistance of the Household Division, we remain very grateful. (I will write to him with a report after today). I expect you know that our Association is one of the strongest of the Division, if not the strongest. Thank you for the splendid music of the Band of the Grenadiers here for us today.
And most importantly, welcome to such a good turnout of past members of 6 Platoon; we have had a lovely, and very complimentary message from one of your erstwhile commanders in B Company, and now Commanding Officer of 3 Para, Colonel David Mans - they are overseas now - you people of 6 Platoon have done a huge amount to keep the flame alive; I guess I can also say confidently that you are the future! I know I speak for everyone when I say how pleased we are to see you here with us.

And this brings me right up close to home, where I would like to take this opportunity to express my personal gratitude and respect to the distinguished President of the Association, Colonel Simon Falkner. He might forgive us for us thinking he is quite a quiet one (!) but I can assure you that would be wrong. In taking up the reins in succession to Lord Patrick, not an easy man to follow, he has worked hard and wisely doing an immeasurable amount for us as our President - and the inimitable Colonel Jim Heycock, who I have always, (politely!) described as 'Indomitable' – another word on him in a moment; thank you for everything you have both done and do- not least in setting up our Reunion and, with all your helpers of the Committee, for inviting me to speak and for standing, with Padre Alan's uniquely fine lead in this magnificent and fitting Service here now. It was not easy for you to get to us, Padre, and we are mighty glad and truly grateful that you are here now, keeping us on the 'straight and narrow'- we need you!! And Colonel Heycock, Jim, may I give heartfelt thanks to you as you come to hand on the baton to Colonel Milly Butler - thank you for your devoted service to the Guards Parachute Association - your brilliant Newsletters are a perfect example of that - and for your typically capable, forthright grip of its affairs as its third Chairman. You have had to cope with some hard personal challenges recently
but - and this is entirely typical of you - none of this has deterred you. You have never changed in the long years we have been acquainted and we know, and we have always known how much you care. We are indebted to you for this. And please may we extend our thoughts and very best wishes to your wife, Jane. Here, finally, I just want also to send our sympathy to Susan, the wife of our wonderful Chaplain, Padre Alan Hughes. She has been unwell and cannot be with us today but asks to be remembered to us. And thank you again, Padre, that despite this, here you are for us today; this means a great deal to us all. Those who know me will be aware of what an idle fellow I am, so instead of putting together some newfangled kind of speech, I want to go back to a note I penned some time ago which - in a rather roundabout way, I am afraid - does two things: it reminds us of the heartbreaking - because that is what it was - disbandment of the Guards Independent Parachute Company- 50 years ago now - and it tells the story -the history - ofthe genesis of the Guards Parachute Association and the first five
decades of its life - and please note that I said FIRST five ! So, I hope you will forgive me if I do that in this Memorial Service with just a bit of my background at the time so you can see the context from which I, as just one of us, came- and how things turned out- so, Here goes! -----

I was widely known as Swanny from the time it was discovered in the Micks that my second and third names are John, Swan- and perhaps from some other things as well!I come of Anglo-Irish parentage, I was a soldier of the Irish Guards, joining the Micks at Caterham - 23585014 in the Autumn of 1958, straight from school, wet behind the ears and completely green but looking for experience. Through excellent leadership, strict but never unfair training and often, perhaps
surprisingly, from sheer kindness, I was able to learn lessons which have stood me in good stead throughout my life. I hope the majority of us can say the same thing. I somehow passed the then War Office Selection Board and, after Mons Officer Cadet School, I reported to 1st Battalion Irish Guards as an18-year-old Ensign-Second Lieutenant on Saint Patrick's Day, 1959. Again, this now
seems curiously like yesterday! From here, after spells at Pirbright and as Battalion Recce Platoon Commander and then Signals Officer in 4th Guards Brigade in BAOR, and a very interesting emergency tour as an Intelligence 'squirrel' in Cyprus during the second period of inter-communal violence there - I was issued with a motorcycle and told to find out what was going on - and then, wanting to do something different, I applied to join the Guards Parachute Company.
The story of this unique organization is extremely well told in Johnnie Watson's excellent History, 'Guardsmen of the Sky' but, just in case there could be doubt, formally known as Number 1 (Guards) Independent Company, The Parachute Regiment was the specialized Pathfinder unit of 16 Parachute Brigade and the Airborne Forces of the Regular Army. Manned by volunteers of the seven Regiments of the Household Division, the Company had an almost mythical reputation for skill and elan. Returning as a Captain from Cyprus in 1965 - where, amongst other things, I was able to get very fit running up and down the cliff and along that pebble beach at Akrotiri- anyone know it?!- I took and passed P Company. Alex Allender's tremendous account in Jim's latest Newsletter brought it all back - and the Pass Plus which came my way was almost entirely due to Alan Flatman's beasting beforehand - sadly he died recently - he was a fine Scots Guardsman - (former player for Bishop Auckland) - before being trained to parachute at RAF Abingdon. (Here my first experience of exiting the tethered balloon at 800 feet was enlivened by the refusal of the man ahead of me to jump; I do not think I altogether blamed him at the time!). (Incidentally, I was very struck by Alex's wise use of the exhortation, 'Train Hard, Fight Easy' which was certainly how it was). From Abingdon I joined Number 3 Troop of the Company. Dave Webster, Grenadier Guards - soon to be replaced by Sergeant Gerry Crymble, IG-was Troop Sergeant and they were at a high state of training and supremely fit.Sid Loveday ran our stores impeccably and both Wilsons - Big Willie and his smaller counterpart, and Pat Moss from Dublin and others - were there. They were a superb crew that held no weak link; they were, without exception, the very best of people and included a fine young North Country Coldstreamer, Rip Ready, a twin, killed on Operation Intradon, who I have never forgotten. The Company had just returned from a second, notably successful operational SF tour in Borneo. Our newly arrived Commanding Officer was a dashing Household Cavalryman, Major Sir Nicholas Nuttall. Our Quartermaster was the legendary Gordon, 'Mitch', Mitchell, SG who had cut his teeth sorting out Germans as an under-age SASsoldier in the Western Desert and Aegean. We all revered him, and it is true to say too, we loved him for the tried and tested warrior he was. It could have been somewhat intimidating for a relatively inexperienced young officer to be thrust into such a
close-knit team of seasoned operators. For example, I well remember Lance Sergeant Del Thompson, Grenadier Guards - aka Black Tom, and here he is - saying to me in a kindly way,"You don't know much do you Sir, but don't you worry. We'll see you right". And that is exactly what happened in the following thirty months of my service in the Company. The understanding of the privilege - and the responsibility - fellowship, really- that it was to be an officer in the company of such remarkable people is something that never left me - never has done - so I hope you won't think me overly nostalgic and will understand why I mention this back story and these names because it, and they, are part of the foundation to which we- all of us here - belong. After graduating from the Army Staff College at Camberley in 1973 and managing to avoid the MoD, I was appointed Commanding Officer of the Company, where I returned to the same level of operational expertise, efficiency, discipline and spirit as I had experienced in my previous roles from 1965-68. I was again blessed with a very able team - and here I want to recall and mention some
names because it is ultimately people who determine the quality of any organisation - And these people were the outright best. My loya land exceptionally tough and able second-in-command was Captain Nick Emson, MC, Coldstream Guards who sadly lost his battle for life on 14th May this year. He was the stuff of legend. I miss him.The Officers and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers were all outstanding - and here I want to mention, amongst our so recently departed Members, Number 176 -Field Marshal Lord Guthrie of the Welsh Guards and Colonel, asGold Stick, of The Life Guards. He was a brilliant soldier and a truly lovely man. It surely is quite something, isn't it, for our Association to have counted a Field Marshal amongst its membership? I am not sure what has been happening to the Welsh Guards just recently but perhaps I may also pick out, amongst too many others, Captain Angus Wall and Sergeant Glyn Roberts, both fine Welsh Guardsmen who we lost very recently- both very fine soldiers and the most likeable of men. Our greatly esteemed President, Simon Falkner was Glyn Roberts' Troop commander. As for me, I could not possibly have asked for a finer Company Sergeant Major than my old friend, Gerry Crymble - who I had first met as a Lance Corporal in my Mick Reconnaissance Platoon way back in Germany in 1961. He was shortly to be succeeded by David Morgan, WG. (David - aka 'Sailor' but don't ask me why! - was a trusted friend who had saved me from drowning on Dartmoor when he was a Lance Corporal in 3 Troop many years before; to give him his due, he didn't harp on about it!). Our devoted Quartermaster was Captain Nick Nicholas, Coldstream Guards. He was very ably assisted by Company Quartermaster Sergeant Ernie Pritchard, a special character of the Welsh Guards. So, this was the beginning of one of the most rewarding tours of duty in a long and varied military career. Perhaps though,it was fortunate that none of us had any inkling at that time of the great sadness that was to come our way. It happened like this:

In the early summer of 1975, as part of the continually destructive process of 'hollowing out' cuts to the armed Forces in that decade, I was warned that the life of the Guards Parachute Company was to come to an end by the close of the year. This was confirmed to me as a fait accompli with no possibility of redress during a visit to us by the Major General, Sir Philip Ward. I am sure you can understand how hard it was to rationalize the terrible waste of this decision to scrap what was, as far as I, and many others are concerned, by any measure, the finest sub-unit in any army in the world. But we were Guardsmen, accustomed to obeying orders and getting on with things. We thus had no option but to proceed with the planning necessitated by this extremely unwelcome decision. That aside, I think we were all determined to make the most of the time remaining to us. As part of all this,I decided to hold a gathering of as many of the former officers of the 1st (Guards) Parachute Battalion and its successor, the Guards Parachute Company as could be mustered. About
fifty of us sat down to a fine lunch in the Guards Depot Officers' Mess at Pirbright. We were very definitely under the eagle eye of General Sir John Nelson, former Commanding Officer of the Guards
Parachute Battalion and a staunch supporter of the Company and of G Squadron, 22 SAS. From this came to me the idea that we should form an Association of the remarkable brotherhood represented by those of us fortunate enough to be and to have been Airborne Guardsmen. The aim would be to carry on into the future the special comradeship and loyalty that all of us felt towards our Sovereign, her Household Division and its, and our seven Regiments - and to one another. Bound into this was our indissoluble link to the Parachute Regiment whose winged badge we had worn with its Blue Red Blue backing in our maroon berets. With advice from Gordon Mitchell and others, I accordingly asked
General Nelson if he would do us the honour of becoming our first President. He agreed and from this,with a quorum of Vice Presidents and a strong Committee - it couldn't have been anything else with
Mitch as its Chairman! - came the Guards Parachute Association. (General Sir John Nelson was Guest of Honour at our first gathering in October 1976 - the tickets cost £1:50!).

To this day, fifty years later, this unique Association remains almost exactly what it always was - not a club but a brotherhood of like-minded men. And this reminds me of a simple story that I would like to relate to you because, to me, it illustrates what this is really all about. In 1974, in my second year in command of the Company, I was invited to dine with the then Commanding Officer of 2 PARA.
The guest of honour that evening was General Johnnie Frost of Arnhem fame. After dinner I found myself sitting next to this man who had long been a hero of mine. I asked him what it was that had held
2PARA his depleted Battalion together so strongly and for so long against massive odds on the northside of that bridge at Arnhem. I remember his exact words to me:"Oh well you see, Robert", he said,
"It was quite simple really. We had been together since the early days of the war. We had trained together and fought together, and we were friends. We were not about to let each other down". To me, that says it all -and though in less dramatic circumstances, perhaps, this matter of friendship and loyalty was precisely what I was thinking of when I determined that there should be an Association to assist us to remain friends and supporters of one another. I have, of course, no means of knowing what lies ahead for the Guards Parachute Association - we should always consider the future and nothing stands still, does it! Others will decide how best to continue to adapt the Association to a rapidly changing world, but may I please just say this;as the years have passed I have not wanted to interfere but it has been heartening for me to be able to see that the old ethos - this spirit and tradition of excellence has remained unchanged and I can say this because it is the essence of Airborne Guardsmen, whether of The Parachute Regiment or 22 SAS, or perhaps elsewhere - and it continues to be carried forward with real skill and dedication by a very fine band of people. You - all of you Members of the Association, whether serving or retired, and your families and those who support you - you are all more than living up to the standards set by our forebears. And I somehow always knew that this was how it would be so, I do not therefore see how the Future - that word again - could be in better hands. Long may that continue to be so - for another 50 years, at least! Before finally letting you off the
hook I want to say three more things:

1. I regret I am under Doctor's Orders and am not allowed to join you tonight. I am so sorry about this.
2. I am reminded here of the motto we Micks tend to quote to one another - it is Quis Separabit, Who

Shall Separate Us from one another and I ask myself, Who Indeed? And 3. Here is a coincidental reminder; today is Saint Crispin's Day - Brigadier James Emson kindly reminded me - and I recall those wonderful words from Shakespeare's Henry V on the eve of the great victory of Agincourt on this same day in 1415. This is because I believe, in a strange way, that they apply to us - we, who, though never huge in numbers were always 'great in quality'. I ask you to remember those words - 'The fewer the men, the greater the share of honour. We few, we happy few, we band of Brothers'. That is the essence of it. It makes me proud to think of it - and thinking of pride, please let me finish with this sentence; it is
written by, and lies above, the signature of HM The King: "You can imagine how proud I feel to be Patron of the Guards Parachute Association". The words are the words of our Sovereign ……….. Puts me properly in my place, doesn't it! Thank you again and ..... May God Bless You all".

Kindly supplied by Joe Farrell MBE of The GPA.