Congratulations to the 26 Parachute Regiment Corporals who promoted to Sergeant today. A big, well deserved move now, to the WOs & Sgts’ Mess, who uphold & protect the Regiment’s standards. http://thearmyleader.co.uk/discipline-speech-jc-lord/

The best extract from JC Lord’s speech:
“I am going to relate to you something that happened to me which I think highlights this business. In my parachute battalion we had a Cpl Sheriff. He was a good Cpl but he had his share of rockets and so on. 1/8

He didn’t make sgt when there was plenty of promotion flying about but he was a good battalion man, & a good company man. He joined us in ’41, fought with us in North Africa, Sicily & Italy & finally at Arnhem, & it was at Arnhem that he was wounded. 2/8

I had been in the prison camp for, I should think, about 3 months with no knowledge of him at all, when I was told that he was in the reception hut. So I scrounged a few cigarettes which were available, because I was told he was in bad shape, & went up to the hut. 3/8

I shall never forget it. As I opened the door everything stopped: there was a deathly silence & everybody looked round as they do under those circumstances. The hut was full of foreigners of various nationalities, a smell of unwashed bodies & a strange atmosphere. 4/8

I looked around & saw Corporal Sheriff in some strange uniform, if you could call it a uniform, which had been supplied to him. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, head hanging down, looking very dejected. I walked across towards him, & you could have heard a pin drop. 5/8

I went up to him & I said something to the effect of “Hello, Cpl Sheriff, how are you getting on?” And in front of all those foreigners he stood up. It was 3 months since we had seen one another and he had no particular cause to love me. 6/8

He stood up & he stood to attention & you could almost hear their astonishment. He turned his head towards me & said, “Hello sir, it’s good to hear your voice.” He was blind. 7/8

Even in those circumstances he was a member of the family, he felt he belonged again & he was back in the bosom of the family. Now that’s soldiering, that’s spirit, that’s understanding. That’s all the things I’ve been trying to say.” 8/8
#pararegfamily #readyforanything