20 THE ARMED SERVICES
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THE British garrison planned and co-ordinated the biggest military, and civic, public event of 1995: the 50th anniversary commemorations of the liberation of Hong Kong. More than 400 veterans from Hong Kong, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand attended the ceremonies, which took place at the end of August.
The Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force all provided men for the 12- day programme of events, highlights of which included the Fleet Veterans' Parade-at Edinburgh Place and the Liberation Parade at the Cenotaph.
A ship of the Hong Kong Squadron, HMS Plover, fired salutes to mark the two- minute silent act of remembrance during the Fleet Veteran's Parade. Three Wessex helicopters from No. 28 (Army Co-operation) Squadron Royal Air Force led aircraft from the Government Flying Service in a fly-past over Victoria Harbour during the Liberation Parade. HMS Trenchant, a Trafalgar-class submarine, visited Hong Kong specifically to take part in the ceremonies.
This was an opportunity for Hong Kong to honour the sacrifice and courage of the visiting veterans, some of whom had journeyed back to the territory for the first, and possibly the last, time and members of the British garrison undertook, with great pleasure, to pay full and proper tribute to these men and women.
The most significant closure in the drawdown of British Forces during 1995 was that of the British Military Hospital (BMH) at King's Park, Kowloon, which discharged its last patient in June. BMH opened in 1967 and in the succeeding 28 years its staff dealt with more than 150 000 in-patients and delivered 50 000 babies.
In the mid-1980's, while BMH continued to provide medical services to the British garrison and its families, spare-bed capacity was used for the treatment of war veterans and other entitled patients. The decision to close the hospital was taken in 1994 and brought to an end more than 100 years of military hospitals in Hong Kong. After BMH closed, personnel requiring hospital treatment were referred to civilian hospitals under contract arrangements with Headquarters British Forces. The site at King's Park, Kowloon, was handed over to the Hong Kong Government in October. An infantry battalion barracks at Cassino Lines, in the New Territories (until April 1995 the home of the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles) was also handed over, as were the Gurkha family quarters at Tam Mei Camp, Blackdown Barracks storage depot at San Po Kong, and Gun Club Hill Barracks, Tsim Sha Tsui. This left the garrison with four major sites (Prince of Wales Barracks, Stonecutters Island, Osborn Barracks and the RAF Station and Army base at Shek Kong) and 14 minor sites, most of which are married quarters.
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