A sense of duty, fun and family: Senior officer hails Queen's Gurkha Signals

General Dame Sharon Nesmith, one of the Army's most senior soldiers, has inspected a special parade of the Queen's Gurkha Signals to mark the 75th anniversary of the formation of the unit.

As well as being Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen Dame Sharon is also the British Army's Master of Signals.

She said of her visit to Gamecock Barracks: "It's been a fabulous day. [It was] a real privilege to be invited back as the Master of Signals to take the 75th birthday parade for our Queen's Gurkha Signallers."

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She added: "They always do their celebrations fabulously, but when it's 75 years that really is something to celebrate, so it's brilliant. Fantastic day!"

Gen Dame Sharon also praised the capabilities of the Queen's Gurkha Signals.

"I was very fortunate when I was a commanding officer and when I was a brigade commander I served alongside Queen's Gurkha Signallers," she explained.

"They make you very proud. They're so passionate and committed to what they do - and they do it all with a sense of fun and a sense of family.

"And to be honest it doesn't get much better than that."

Professionalism and celebration

"Apart from the fact that I was very proud to serve with them, they deliver some really professional outputs for defence.

"They're at the forefront of many of our recent operations and our exercises, whether that's supporting our Nato forces or whether that's our UK contingent forces.

"But they are renowned. They are renowned for dong a really good job.

"So very many times when I serve along commanders, if they know the Queen's Gurkha Signallers are coming along then they're very proud."

Gen Dame Sharon said she expected the 75th anniversary celebrations to go on into the night.

"They know how to celebrate," she said.

"There'll be plenty of Gurkha. There'll be some of that cake. There'll be sports competitions all afternoon and I don't think it'll be an early finish."

Unit history

The Queen's Gurkha Signals was formed during the Malayan Emergency to support the 17th Gurkha Division.

The QGS is a regular unit of the Royal Corps of Signals, one of the combat support arms of the British Army.

Together with The Royal Gurkha Rifles, the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers, the Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, the Band of the Royal Gurkha Rifles and the Gurkha Staff and personnel Support, the QGS forms part of the Brigade of Gurkhas.