Mark, who served as a young lieutenant in the 5th Battalion during the 1980’s, was the officer in command of Vange Camp in Basildon, when that area was used as a military base by the Territorial Army. The 5th Battalion was a NATO rolled unit, assigned at part of the Army’s 49 Brigade, whose role was to reinforce the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in the event of any attempt by the Soviet Union and their then Warsaw Pact allies to invade West Germany.
A reunion dinner of the officers of the old 5th Battalion recently took place at the Territorial Army Royal Logistics Corps Headquarters at Grantham in Lincolnshire and Mark travelled up from Essex in order to help mark the occasion.
Among the guests was Colonel Nick Kelsey, who commander the 5th Battalion when Mark was a young Platoon Commander and who helped to organise the 2012 dinner. Commenting on the special reunion of officers of the 5th Battalion, Mark Francois said:
“I am proud to have served as an Infantry Officer in the Royal Anglian Regiment during the Cold War. The Territorial Army in those days trained really for one scenario only, which was to fight WW3 if the Russians had ever attacked us. Fortunately, deterrence worked, the Soviet Union eventually collapsed and much of Eastern Europe is now free. It was a great pleasure to see a number of old comrades from the Battalion at the dinner and as well as reliving old times we also remembered those soldiers who serve in the Royal Anglian Regiment today, including the regulars of the 1st Battalion who are now serving in Afghanistan to help keep us safe from new terrorist threats in the 21st century.