Awarded to the 2^nd Battalion, C.E.F. for the service provided during the Great War.  These Battle Honours are perpetuated by the GGFG.  242 Officers and 5,084 Other Ranks served in the Iron Second, of which 1,279 were killed and/or wounded.

Great War, 1916

Awarded to the 77^th Battalion, C.E.F. for the service provided during the Great War.  The 77^th was mobilized in 1915 under LCol D.R. Street, a former Lieutenant Colonel Commanding of the Regiment.  In 1916, while awaiting orders to move to France, the 77^th Battalion was broken up to provide reinforcements to other units.  The Battle Honour was awarded in recognition of the service that the 77^th provided.  This Battle Honour, awarded to a non-combatant force, is not perpetuated by the GGFG.

Awarded to 21 Canadian Armoured Regiment (GGFG) for the service provided during World War Two.  165 Officers and 2,339 Other Ranks served, of which 515 were killed and 178 wounded

The Decking of Colours in the Guards

When the 1^st Battalion, 24^th Foot* returned from the Zulu War, in 1880, Queen Victoria placed a Wreath of Immortelles on the head of the pike of the Queen’s Colour of the Regiment to commemorate the Regiment’s exploits in the Battles of Isandhwana and Rorke’s Drift in 1879.

 *(later 1^st Battalion, The South Wales Borderers, and now amalgamated into The Royal Regiment of Wales)

              Around the same period of time and by 1890, the Brigade of Guards adopted the practice of “decking” the colours with laurel wreaths upon the anniversaries of certain campaigns, battles and actions in which the several Regiments have distinguished themselves.

              At one time, these wreaths were actually made of laurel leaves, and it was one of the duties of the Drum Major to manufacture them.  Today they are made commercially.  The wreaths are twelve inches in diameter, made of a plastic material wrapped around a wire frame.  The wire frame has a loop that can be affixed between the finial and the pike on the Colour so that the wreath encircles the Colour.

              The campaigns, battles and actions that the Brigade of Guards deck the Colours are varied from Regiment to Regiment.  For example, the Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards only deck their Colours on the occasions that are also recorded in the Battle Honours emblazoned on the Colours themselves.  The Grenadier Guards and the Coldstream Guards commemorate battles that are only recorded as lesser Honours granted for the Great War and for the Second World War that are shown in the Army List, but not displayed on the Colours.  These two Regiments also include some events that are not specifically named as Battle Honours at all.  Such anniversaries are, of course, connected with better known events.  For instance, the Coldstream Guards deck their Colours on 9 October to commemorate an action at Houthulst Forest in 1917.  This was part of the Battle of Poelcappelle, which they bear as a lesser Battle Honour, and which, in its turn, is covered by the Honour “Ypres, 1914, ‘17” which is inscribed on the Colours.

              In Canada, the Governor General’s Foot Guards and the Canadian Grenadier Guards have decked the Colours with a wreath of laurel for many years.  Both Regiments were officially authorized in March 1988 “…to deck their Colours with a wreath of laurel when carried on duty on the anniversaries of the dates most closely associated with their Battle Honours”

  Notes: 

Appx D “The Decking of Colours in the Guards Division”, book unknown

Dunbar F.J. and Harper J.H., Old Colours Never Die, A Record of Colours and Military Flags in Canada, Toronto, 1992.