First City Regiment

First City Regiment
SANDF First City Regiment emblem
Active	1875 to present
Country	South Africa
Allegiance	Republic of South Africa  Republic of South Africa
Branch	South African Army  South African Army
Type	Light Infantry
Role	Air Assault and Training
Size	One Air Assault battalion & a Training Wing
Part of	South African Infantry Formation Army Conventional Reserve
Garrison/HQ	RHQ: Drill Hall, Hill Street, Grahamstown Training Base: Fort Ihlosi Training Base, Grahamstown Military Base
Nickname(s)	The Fighting Grahams (Airborne Highlanders) During WW2 the FC/CTH wore the Green and Gold Hackle and were nicknamed "the Budgies"
Colours (8)	1876 Regimental FCVA 1904 Kings Colour QVR 1904 Kings Colour FCV 1905 Regimental Colour QVR 1905 Regimental Colour FCV 1965 Regimental Colour FC Damaged by fire 1969 Regimental Colour FC 1989 National Colour FC
March	Bonny Dundee
Mascot(s)	Albany Leopard
Anniversaries	Founders Weekend closest weekend to 18 November Delvillewood July of each year
Battle honours	Awarded Gaika Gcaleka 1877 Basutoland 1880-81 Bechuanaland 1897 South Africa 1899-1902 South West Africa 1914 - 1915 Madagascar 1942 Italy 1944-45 Casino II Chiusi Florence The Greve Gothic Line Monte Stanco Monte Pezza Sole/Caprara Po Valley South West Africa/Angola 1976-1989 Outstanding South Africa 1879
Commanders
Officer Commanding	Lt Col Roger Albert Keeton DWD 2006–
Colonel-in-Chief	The Duke of Kent, Maj Gen, HRH Prince George KG MC GCVO 1935–1942 KIA His Grace the Duke of Montrose KT CB 1946–1961
Honorary Colonel	Col Cecil Peter Jones-Phillipson SM (Appointed 2010)
Insignia
Tartan	Graham of Montrose
Company level Insignia
SA Motorised Infantry beret bar circa 1992	SA Motorised Infantry beret bar

First City (abbreviated to FC) is an air assault infantry regiment of the South African Army. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Army Reserve or United States Army National Guard unit.

The regiment was formed from the First City Volunteers (FCV) of Grahamstown that were formed in 1875 in Grahamstown and the Queenstown Rifle Volunteers (QVR) that were formed in 1860 (Re-raised 1883) in Queenstown and these regiments were formed due to the unrest on the then frontier.

The QVR and the FCV fought in the Cape Frontier Wars and the 9th Frontier War (1877–1878). The QVR fought in the Morosi Campaign (1879). The FCV fought in the Basutoland Gun War (1880–1881). The QVR and the FCV later fought in the Bechuanaland campaign (1897), and in the Second Boer War (1899–1902).

On 1 July 1913, the QVR amalgamated with the FCV and was incorporated into the Citizen Force of the new Union Defence Force as the 4th Infantry (First Eastern Rifles). It served in German South-West Africa 1914–1915.

However, in 1924 the First Eastern Rifles were renamed the 4th Infantry (First City). The numerical part of the title was dropped in 1932, making the regiment simply First City. First City is never called First City "Regiment" . When spoken of it is "The" First City.

In the mid 1930s, the regiment adopted Scottish uniform, including the Graham of Montrose tartan.

During World War II, FC served in the Madagascar campaign (1942). On 5 October 1943, First City, South Africa's senior Scottish unit, was temporarily "married up" with the Cape Town Highlanders to form the FC/CTH which was part of the 12th South African Motorised Brigade of the South African 6th Armoured Division. The "marriage" lasted until 8 May 1945. After completing its training in Egypt, the division landed at Taranto, Italy on 20 April 1944 and fought exclusively in Italy during its existence. In 1946, the regiment was reconstituted as a component of the country's part-time forces and reformed First City.