Created in Tortosa by the Royal Decree of 27 July 1877, with the designation 52nd Philippines Infantry Regiment, it was raised from the 44th Tarragona and 73rd Lorca Reserve Battalions, which constituted its first and second Battalions. The new Regiment stayed in Catalonia with detachments in Lleida, la Seu d'Urgell, Tremp, and Solsona. In July 1880, the First Battalion moved to Palma, stationed in Carmen Barracks, and the second to Mahón. During the same month, the latter joined its Staff in Palma. From the beginning the Regiment maintained detachments in Ibiza and Cabrera.
In 1944 Colors donated by the Most Excellent City Council of Palma were delivered to the Regiment. In April 1968 it was moved to General Asensio Base. Presently it includes a Command, a Staff, and the "Philippines" Light Infantry Battalion.
It participated, with attached units, in peacekeeping operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq.
Famous quotes containing the words light and/or regiment:
“Thus he struggled, by every method, to keep his light shining before men. Surely the lighthouse-keeper has a responsible, if an easy, office. When his lamp goes out, he goes out; or, at most, only one such accident is pardoned.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What makes a regiment of soldiers a more noble object of view than the same mass of mob? Their arms, their dresses, their banners, and the art and artificial symmetry of their position and movements.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)