Mar 11 - Costa Honours Marines in Devon

Written by YGTV Team on 11 March 2015.

A piece of Gibraltar Rock, donated to the Royal Marines last year, was unveiled as a new memorial on Woodbury Common in Devon, which is used by trainees of the nearby Commando Training Centre Royal Marines Exton.

Minister Neil Costa represented Gibraltar at the unveiling. He insisted that although Gibraltarians do not generally part with their rock lightly, there was ‘no hesitation in giving a piece of our Rock to the Royal Marines.’ As retired Royal Marines Lt Col Alastair Rogers said, ‘the Rock of Gibraltar is British because of that action by the Royal Marines over 300 years ago.’

The piece of rock marked the Royal Marines’ 350^th birthday late last year. During his time in the UK Minister Costa also inspected the Pass Out Parade of 189 Troop King's Squad at the Commando Training Centre. The Marines on parade had successfully completed an intense 32-week course, one of the longest and toughest basic training courses anywhere in the world.