1967

1st Bn The Royal Green Jackets

In November, 1966, the Battalion entered a team in the Berlin .22 league and in the following months shot well and won every match which took us up to our final match against the Queen’s Own Highlanders in January. They also had won each of their matches until they met us and tension ran high as the final shots were fired. Incredibly after many recounts we had both scored 1,488 – a draw, but the match had to be decided and quite correctly it was done on inner bulls. After a lot of friendly ‘that one of yours isn’t cutting the line by a mile’ and ‘nonsense it is well inside’ all through magnifying glasses and gauges, it was decided they had scored 40 to our 37 inner bulls

Coming second entitled us to shoot in the B.A.O.R. Small Bore Championships which were to be held at Sennelager, but due to our move back to England we unfortunately could not compete.

In January we sent ten Young Soldier shots to the Rifle Brigade at Iserlohn to compete in the Prix Le Clerc team, the 3rd Battalion having been selected to represent Great Britian in this competition which was held in Holland in July. They came fourth overall having been beaten by France, Holland and the U.S.A. out of seven countries competing. Rfn Smith and L/Cpl Cook came 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Pistol event and Cpl Penn and Rfn Burke shot well in the rifle event.

Due to our move back from Berlin and our impending move to Cyprus we did not enter a team in the A.R.A. Central Meeting this year, but very much hope to compete again next year

2nd Bn The Royal Green Jackets

Due to the training programme and recent Battalion commitments, means that the Battalion shooting activities have suffered accordingly. Notably we were missing W02 Airey, Sgt Clarke and Sgt Fry who were with 3RGJ training for the Prix Le Clerc.

3rd Bn The Royal Green Jackets

This year was our fourth time of being chosen to represent the British Army in the annual N.A.T.O. Small Arms Competition. This followed on fairly naturally from our 1966 efforts in the C.E.N.T.O. competition.

Just as we thought we had made third place, the last American pair produced a score which none of their gun pairs had achieved in practice. Such are the fortunes of competition shooting and we were beaten into fourth place.

The final team consisted of (in order of shooting):

			RIFLE	GPMG	PISTOL
			Cpl Penn 122	RfnClifford 269	A/Cpl Crook 119
			Sgt Clarke 135	Cpl Notley 269	Rfn Smith 120
			A/Cpl Whitehead 117
			A/Cpl Payne 136	Rfn Horsted 251	RESERVE:
			Rfn Burke 124	Rfn Horsley 251	Rfn Edwards
			Rfn Browning 121
			Capt Cornell 137	CSM Young 255
			Lt Somers 131	Rfn D'Cruze 255
			CSM McGrady 141
			A/Cpl Jones 111	RESERVES:
			Rfn Lloyd 98	Cpl Robb
			RSM Airey 137	A/Cpl Mangles
			Rfn Crumplin 147
			Rfn Lavin 119
			RESERVE:	COACH:
			Sgt Fry	CSM Smythe

While at Sennelager we had one other expedition when six of our good shots returned to England to compete in the Methuen. Despite very few chances to practice – and those in the evening after a long day’s Prix Le Clerc practice – they came second by one point to the S.A.S.C. It was a bitter blow to accept but notwithstanding the result a very fine effort to have done so well. The team was RSM Airey, CSM Young, Sgt Fry, Sgt Clarke, Cpl Brooks and Cpl Notley.

The Rifle Depot

The Depot Shooting Team was both young and inexperienced this year as only three of them had ever shot at Bisley before. The team acquitted themselves satisfactorily at the Aldershot meeting but fell rather below their best form at Bisley. Success at Aldershot included a very fine G.P.M.G. shoot by Cpls Stanger and Bissett who won the Berdoe Wilkinson Bowl. They beat all the Bren pairs firing in the competition, so their win was particularly praiseworthy.

4th (Volunteer) Battalion

Battalion Rifle Meeting

This was held at Pirbright on the weekend of the 21st May. It was the first battalion occasion and was a good start for stimulating inter-company competitive spirit. It was organised with smooth efficiency by the Training Major, and run by the Permanent Staff. Their hard work was rewarded by a successful day.

 

Inter Company Trophy	'A' Company
Battalion Shot	1st - Cpl Cavanagh ('A' Coy)
Battalion Shot	2nd - CSgt Isaacs ('HQ' Coy)
Best Young Soldier	Rfn Richards ('A' Coy)
Best Officer	Maj P Lawrence
Best WO & Sgt	CSgt Isaacs
Best Cpl & Below	Cpl Cavanagh