I started my military career in 17th Battalion Parachute Regiment (TA) in 1963, based in Consett, County Durham.
I liked it so much that I decided to go Regular, and started in Depot, at Maida Barracks in February 1965. After passing out, I was posted to the Signals Platoon of The 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (2 PARA), and stayed with the Battalion for the next seven years. Afterwards I was posted to Junior Parachute Company as an Instructor, until I was demobbed in 1974.
This was not enough for me however, so then I signed on as a Territorial once again. In this second spell, I joined C Company, The 4th Battalion (Volunteers), The Parachute Regiment (4 PARA V), where I stayed until the end of the decade.
During my Airborne service, I was awarded GSMs for South Arabia (Aden and Bahrain) and Northern Ireland, and also took part in Jungle Warfare Training exercises to Singapore and Malaya, border patrols to Hong Kong in 1968, a deployment to the BAOR in Germany (where I gained German Wings in 1976), and further training deployments to Denmark.
After leaving the services, I continued to take an active interest in the Airborne community.
I am currently Treasurer of the PRA Durham Branch, a branch founded by myself and another friend. We do our best to support the Regiment in any way we can.
by David Featherstone
