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Known simply as “15 Para” the Battalion was raised in May 1947 as a Territorial army unit by the legendary Alastair Pearson CB, DSO and three bars, MC, TD. Their Headquarters was the Drill Hall in Yorkhill Street in Glasgow with Companies in Edinburgh and Perth, and Platoons in Aberdeen (later a Company) and Dundee.

Nearly all of the men who joined the original Battalion were trained and experienced soldiers and the unit quickly established itself not only as one of the best recruited Territorial formations but also as one of the finest.

WOII Jake McRae from B Company of 15 Para in Aberdeen was the first Territorial Army soldier to win the Queen’s Gallantry Medal. In June 1974 when jumping from a C130 Hercules aircraft near Stonehaven the parachute of one of his comrades failed to open. The man crashed through McRae’s rigging and as he did so McRae managed to keep a hold of him and they both descended safely using only McRae’s parachute.

15 Para served throughout the Cold War and took part in numerous exercises in Germany and elsewhere. It was on one such exercise, “Bold Guard”, in 1974 near the Keil Canal that freak weather conditions resulted in a number of men from the battalion drifting short of the dropping zone and landing in the Canal. Five men were killed, the irrepressible Captain Gerry Muir, Officer Cadet Cooper, Sergeants Leask and Tompkins, Lance Corporal Bett and Private Gillin.

After the end of the Cold War the Territorial Army was reorganised. In  1993 15 Para was disbanded and 15th (Scottish) Company of the 4^th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment was formed with bases in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glenrothes. Further reorganisation in 1999 left only 15^th (Scottish) Company in Glasgow with B Detachment (MMG Platoon) in Edinburgh.

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