MORE than 120 family and friends gave a warm ‘welcome home’ to the 1st Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment, on their return to Warminster.

The regiment staged a homecoming parade at Battlesbury Barracks in Warminster on Friday (Friday 29 March) for the 400 soldiers on their return from an eight-month operational deployment in Estonia.

Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Tom ‘Badger’ Miller led officers and soldiers on the parade in front of their families and friends.

The salute was taken by the Regiment’s Colonel, Brigadier Andrew Jackson CBE, who told them they had performed an “outstanding” tour of duty.

He paid tribute to the 1st Battalion, saying they had managed to overcome the “sad death” of one of their colleagues, Private Reece Miller, who took his own life in June last year at the start of their tour.

Colonel Jackson said: “The feedback that I have got is that you have done an outstanding job.” The armoured infantry went to Estonia as lead battlegroup as part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltic states.

Cllr Tony Nicklin, the mayor of Warminster, helped Colonel Jackson present awards to some of the soldiers, Around 200 pupils from Kingdown School also attended the parade.

The recipients included Private Josh Taberer-Simmonds, who received an award for being top student on Operation CABRIT, and Lance Corporal Sam Hopkinson, for his selfless commitment in helping to save the life of a pedestrian while on annual leave in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Twenty Privates were also promoted to to the rank of Lance Corporal during the homecoming ceremony.

The Yorkshire Imperial Band from Wakefield travelled from Yorkshire to provide music for the occasion.

The 1st Battalion will now go on annual leave before being posted home to Catterick next year for the first time in 12 years.