PRESENTATION TO DENIS MCCORMICK
One Devonshire Gardens, Glasgow
1330 Wednesday 22 June 2016
In June 1940 Sir Winston Churchill directed that the British Army should raise a parachute force and from that The Parachute Regiment was born with its distinctive maroon beret. The Regiment has gone on to gain the reputation of an elite force in the British Army.
It attracted a certain type of men, men of whom Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery was to ask “What manner of men are these who wear the maroon red beret?” and he answered his own question saying “They are firstly all volunteers . . . they have “jumped” from the air and by doing so have conquered fear . . . they have the highest standards in all things. They are, in fact, men apart - every man an Emperor.”
Denis McCormick was a member of the Parachute Regiment. Its members do not need to boast, they have already proved themselves but the instincts which take a man into the Regiment never leave him and when he is needed he will show why he is a man apart.
On the 18th of March this year, confronted by a man wielding two meat cleavers threatening children and their parents in the streets around the Art School, Denis McCormick did not hesitate but faced the danger and cornered the individual who could so easily have caused serious injury or death if Denis had not stepped in.
Denis had already proved his courage when he qualified to wear the coveted red beret and by the instinctive courage of his action on the 18th of March he emphasised that he is a man apart – in Field Marshal Montgomery’s term – an Emperor.
The men who have jumped describe their number as the airborne brotherhood and the value of that brotherhood was shown after Denis had done his deed when the Secretary of his local branch of the Parachute Regimental Association, Terry McCourt, stepped forward to support him and then kept an eye on him at work for a couple of days until the initial shock began to ebb.
Denis, as President of the Scotland and Northern Ireland Region of the Parachute Regimental Association, I am proud to present to you this badge from your colleagues in the Glasgow School of Art recognising the value of your action and the respect and regard in which you are held by everyone who knows you and works with you.