Roy Turner's Video "RETURN FROM AFGHANISTAN"

On Monday 30th November 2009 the Second Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, who had spent the previous six months deployed in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, returned to Bury, where they paraded through the streets of the town. The parade was accompanied by the Gurkha Band and the drums of the Fusiliers battalion. The battalion were able to march through the town with drums beating, colours flying and bayonets fixed; a privilege earned many years ago when the Fusiliers were given the Freedom of the County Borough of Bury.

Large crowds lined the streets to applaud the troops and the Mayor, Councillor Sheila Magnall took the salute as the parade passed the Town Hall. The parade was to pass the new Fusilier Museum in Moss Street and the Fusiliers’ Memorial in its new site in the centre of the town.

Afterwards the troops were invited to a Civic Reception in the Elizabethan Suite.

But there were seven of those who went into action against the Taliban who were not to return and hundreds more were wounded. It was a sobering thought and a glimpse into the harsh realities of war.