History
It was formed in 1966 by the amalgamation of the three separate regiments of the Green Jackets Brigade:
- 1st Green Jackets, (43rd and 52nd)
- 2nd Green Jackets, The King's Royal Rifle Corps
- 3rd Green Jackets, The Rifle Brigade
There were also two Territorial Army battalions made up as follows
- 4th(V) Bn Royal Green Jackets - formed from the remnants of the Rangers (KRRC), London Rifle Brigade, Tower Hamlets Rifles, Queens Westminsters, Queen Victoria's Rifles and Civil Service Rifles.
- 5th(V) Bn Royal Green Jackets - formed from the 4th Bn the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (TA) and the Buckinghamshire Battalion of the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry
During the 1980s, the battalions were deployed to various parts of Northern Ireland (Operation Banner). The 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions were also based in West Germany, Osnabrueck (1RGJ), Minden (2RGJ) and Celle (3RGJ), where the Queen visited the Regiment in the mid 1980's. The 4th and 5th Battalions were also part of the NORTHAG NATO forces based in West Germany prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In 1992 1st RGJ was disbanded and 2/RGJ and 3/RGJ renumbered 1/RGJ and 2/RGJ respectively. The last ever Royal Green Jackets unit was the London Oratory CCF who were rebadged as Irish Guards in 2010.
The regiment's greatest loss of life came on 20 July 1982 when seven RGJ bandsmen were killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb which exploded during a public concert featuring the music from Oliver! to 120 people at the bandstand in Regents Park.
After the 1992 reorganisation, the unit was mostly based overseas in Dhekelia, Cyprus and Paderborn, Germany as well as in Northern Ireland and saw action in Bosnia and Kosovo during the Yugoslav Wars. Both battalions returned to the UK by 2002 and one battalion served on Operation Telic in Iraq, the regiment's last ever assignment before the amalgamation.
Read more about this topic: Royal Green Jackets
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