Today, Armed Forces Day 2010, is being marked by celebrations all over the country but the national event is being hosted by Cardiff. At 10am the Prince of Wales is to open Firing Line, the new, innovative and imaginatively displayed Museum of the Welsh Soldier in Cardiff Castle.
Armed Forces Day, first observed in 2006, is the occasion for everyone to honour the servicemen and women of the past, present and future by pausing in their everyday lives to think of the gallantry and fortitude of those who place their lives at risk in the national interest. Today’s events in Cardiff were preceded yesterday evening with a Beating of Retreat by the Band and Drums of the Royal Welsh in the precincts of the castle, followed by a banquet.
The museum, a display of the history of two cavalry and two infantry regiments, has been five years in planning and preparation. The result is a spaciously arranged record of the British Army from the 18th-century campaigns of the Duke of Marlborough to the present.
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The cavalry regiments represented are 1st The King’s Dragoon Guards and the Queens Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards). Raised in 1685, 1st KDG fought in Marlborough’s battles, at Waterloo under Wellington and with the 8th Army in North Africa and Italy in the Second World War. The Bays, also raised in 1685, named for their exclusive use of bay horses from 1766, won battle honours in South Africa and both world wars. The two regiments amalgamated to form 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards in 1959.
The regiment marches past in quick time to the Radetsky March by Johann Stauss Sr in recognition of Emperor Franz-Josef of Austria-Hungary, Colonel-in-Chief of the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards, 1896 until the First World War. Although he was subsequently relieved of this ceremonial post, the emperor gave instructions that he was to be informed if any member of the regiment was taken prisoner, to ensure that he was properly cared for.
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The histories of the two infantry regiments, now brought together as the 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, can be traced from the founding of the more senior in 1689. The South Wales Borderers were raised that year and kept their individuality for 280 years until their amalgamation with the Welch Regiment in 1969. The latter was raised in 1719 at Chelsea, initially as a regiment of Invalids for garrison duty.
The Royal Regiment of Wales was formed from this amalgamation in 1969 and the infantry restructuring of 2005-06 brought about the formation of the current regiment — The Royal Welsh — comprising the Royal Welch Fusiliers and Royal Regiment of Wales as the 1st and 2nd battalions respectively. 3rd Royal Welsh is the regiment’s Territorial Army battalion. The new regiment’s battle honours range from Marlborough’s victories, through the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimea, South Africa, both world wars to Korea.
The displays begin with Marlborough’s campaigns of the early 18th century, presented chronologically in a social-historic context relating them to more general contemporary events. They also include the Waterloo campaign of 1815, in which antecedents of both the current regiments were involved. The collations of uniform, accoutrements, medals, photographs and individual memorabilia of the cavalry and infantry soldiers of the day, flanked by the lineages of today’s two regiments, are presented with a rare elegance.
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The Marlborough, Napoleonic and Crimean wars, when uniforms were notable more for their splendour than for their practicality on campaign, are exhibited in a series of display cases. An interactive globe raises questions relative to the various campaigns. A 15-minute film captures the working days of the currently serving soldiers of the 1st Queen’s Dragoon Guards and the Royal Welsh.
The film explains how the men’s families are taken into the lives of both regiments. This theme of contemporary concern for the wellbeing of the families of servicemen and women, and in particular the anxiety for those serving in Afghanistan, is taken up and continued in a section of the museum about wives and sweethearts.
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The 1st QDG served in Afghanistan from October 2008 until March 2009. The 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh was there from December last year and has just returned with the 11th Light Brigade, which held its home-coming parade in Winchester this week, while the 2nd Battalion has had an armoured infantry company in Helmand province since early 2009. The CO of the 1st Battalion has brought home items from Afghanistan for the Cardiff museum and also for the Royal Welch Fusiliers museum in Caernarfon.
There are eight changeable “Outstanding Service” displays highlighting personal stories or acts of heroism. One currently on show explains how Major (later Sir) Tasker Watkins of the Welch Regiment won the Victoria Cross in the Second World War and how he subsequently became a presiding judge on the Wales circuit and president of the Welsh Rugby Union.
The museum will also run a programme of temporary exhibitions, beginning with one looking at the culture and society of the Zulu nation. Another looks at humanitarian and peacekeeping work undertaken by both regiments, making clear to visitors that the work of a soldier is not all about conflict and violence.
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Finally, there is the dressing-up corner, where even very young visitors are able to try on the uniforms and headgear of the past and present.
Firing Line, Cardiff Castle, is now open; cardiffcastlemuseum.org.uk