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11 December 2009 - Annual Meeting, Lexington Massachusetts THE COLOURS In order to understand the meaning of our colours we must put them into historical perspective. When you enter a Jewish House of Worship the most notable object appears against the eastern wall. It is the holy ark. And in this ark is the most sacred object in the Jewish faith. The Torah! A scroll upon which is inscribed, by hand, on parchment, the Five Books of Moses. It is more than a symbol of the Jewish faith. It is revered, it is the Central Focus of the faith and it is holy. The Colours which stand behind me are revered, are the Central Focus of the regiment and they are holy. Why holy? More about that latter. First let me define what they are not called. They are not called 'flags,' but 'colours.' A flag is hoisted up on a flagpole by a lanyard. Colours are attached to a staff and fixed. The main purpose of the Colours was to be flown in battle to rally the troops. Carried by Colour Ensigns who were junior officers in the battalion companies. Junior officers. The youngest in the regiment. Thus demonstrating the regiment's trust in youth. Each morning when the regiment was formed they were trooped through the ranks to show the colours to the men. And each evening they were lodged in a similar trooping ceremony. To have a regiment's colours captured in battle was a terrible disgrace. Men gave their lives to protect the colours of their regiment. At the Battle of Isandhlwana, the day before Rorke's Drift, January 1879 during the Zulu War the Queen's Colour of the 1st Battalion, 24th Foot was carried off the field; after the devastating; defeat by Adjutant Lieutenant Teignmouth Melvill. Swept out of his saddle and plunging into a nearby river he clutched the colours to no avail. Lieutenant Nevill Coghill assisted in retrieving the colour. Both officers perished. They received the Victoria Cross , the highest award bestowed on a British soldier—the first men ever awarded the VC posthumously (in 1935). On the 4th of February 1879 the Queen's Colour was retrieved next to the river. Although the silk was in shreds, the gilt lion and crown still surmounted the battered staff. Despite its battered condition the colour remained in service with the battalion. It was carried across the Rhine in December 1918 and was retired in March of 1933 after 67 years of use. It hangs in the regimental chapel in the cathedral at Brecon to this day. In the old soldiers home in Chelsea there hangs many 'enemy' colours taken in battle— Several from American regiments in the War for Independence and the War of 1812. Colours have been a distinguishing emblem in regiments British military colours date back the restoration in the late 17th century Regiments had up to 12 colours, private banners with the Colonels' and company commanders' own armorial bearings worked thereon. At the turn of the 18th century William III directed that there be three colours for each regiment. The Royal Warrent of 1743 declared that two colours of completely different style be flown. The first the Grand Union, the second of the same colour as the regiment facings. And finally the Warrent of 1751 named the first colour, the King's Colour, and the latter the Regimental Colour. Each to be 6' 6" square. New colours were presented to a regiment in a formal ceremony.
The Regimental colour on my left was presented to HM 10th Regiment of Foot, American Contingent in April 1971 by the British Consul-General, Mrs Lenore Storer. It is constructed of super-lute silk by Hobsens of London. The Sovereign's Colour was presented by Major General Sir Christopher Welby Everrard in April 1975. It was made of super lute silk by the Royal School of Needleworking by pass-through embroidery. Two women, one on either side of the colour passed the thread through the colour. A rose took these two women 4 days to complete. These colours These colours represent the 'Idea of the Regiment.' Long after each of us is gone from service these Colours will remain. They will still be the Central Focus of the Regiment. We lost our colours 2 years ago. In actuality they had been misplaced. The ancient Israelites lost their Central Focus—the holy Ark of the Covenant—in a battle. They were never to be reclaimed. But this past September our Colours re- appeared. The Central Focus of the Regiment had been returned. GOD SAVE THE KING! Major Richard E Amsterdam
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since earliest times. It is believed that the first 'colours' may have
been nothing but a bundle of hay tied to a pole. The Roman Eagle was
a type of colour carried throughout the empire by the legions 
were retired off the field to the strains of Auld Lang Syne. The new
colours were presented by a member of the Royal Family and consecrated
by a Church of England priest as they lay over the stacked drums. Thus
they became "holy'objects. For when their lives were over, they
were retired from the regiment and hung in the military chapel of the
cathedral in the regiment's home town. There to forever be in honour.
You can look up in Lincoln Cathedral in the Lincolnshire Regimental
chapel and see these ancient colours. 'Some so threadbare that the sun
shines right through them.'
were returned to the UK in 1978 by Col Vincent Kehoe to reside in the
Lincolnshire Regimental Museum and then the Lincolnshire Life County
Museum. The American Contingent requested the return of the colours
in 1993. This was done in a handover ceremony in Lincoln Castle to two
officers of our regiment. They were re-presented to the regiment in
a ceremony at Hanscom Air Force Base in August 1993 before many high
ranking officers from the United Kingdom, 
Canada,
Bermuda and America and before many guests and friends. Major General
Richard Gerrard-Wright presented the colours after the old colours were
retired from the field in an impressive ceremony. They were blessed
by a priest of the Episcopal Church and thus became 'holy' objects for
the regiment.