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Shoeburyness 1975-1976
The battalion formed up at the old Barracks, Shoeburyness in Essex on the 3rd February 1975.
They were aware from the outset that they were going to carry out a further move to Warminster, mid 1976 so this posting was to some extent viewed as transitory.
The battalion initially carried out individual training. This was later intensified with Brigade exercises. This continued until the 30th August 1975 when the battalion deployed to Cyprus.
The Battalion returned to England in January 1976 and in March of that year received a visit from the Colonel-in-Chief, HRH the Prince Phillip. Further training with emphasis placed on shooting followed and in the Summer of 1976 they moved to Warminster and one of their home counties, Wiltshire.
The following Regimental Journals were published whilst the 1st Battalion was in Shoeburyness
The following Farmer's boy was lost whilst the battalion was at Shoeburyness
| Private | DICKS P J | 31 January 1975 | UK |
A six month emergency tour in Cyprus, based in Salamanca Barracks Episkopi, was the highlight of the next tour based at Shoeburyness in Essex. It was deployed between the two sovereign base areas.
The battalion task during this time was the operational task of preserving the internal security of the two bases, a role given added edge by the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974.
The second task was to undertake, as far as practicable, the initial training for the battalion’s conversion to the mechanized role, which was in preparation for the tour starting in September 1976 as the School of Infantry’s Demonstration Battalion.
The tour was quite uneventful with one incident of note.
The Corps of Drums, led by Drum Major Coveney, with C/Sgt Hobbs as second in command, were stationed at R.A.F. Troodos as a rapid reaction force for the radar installation located nearby.
In the autumn of 1975 they came across the result of a Ford Anglia failing to navigate a very sharp bend.
As a result of this incident C/Sgt Hobbs was awarded the General Officer Commanding Cyprus’s personal commendation for Meritorious Service. It read 'On 22nd September 1975 the Corps of Drums, 1st Battalion, the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment were returning to Episkopi from Troodos after a tour of duty. The platoon was commanded by Col Sgt. Hobbs.
Ahead of them a car drove off the road and plunged five hundred feet to the valley below. The car contained three passengers, a man and a woman, and a child. Led by C/Sgt. Hobbs, the Corps of Drums climbed down the cliff face to give aid.
They found that the two adults had been killed and the child so severely injured that she died soon after the accident. C/Sgt. Hobbs immediately organised the recovery of the bodies which had to be carried up the hill to a waiting ambulance..
Throughout the operation, which was both difficult and of necessity carried out in a dignified manner, his conduct, leadership and determination were of the highest order, and his coolness and humanity made a profound impression upon the crowd who witnessed the incident.
C/Sgt. Hobbs and the men of the Corps of Drums acted in the highest tradition of the British Army, and brought great credit to the regiment, Near East Land Forces, and the Army'.
