SOLDIERS who paraded the streets of Derby on Saturday afternoon were greeted with patriotic and uplifting applause.
The men from Derbyshire's infantry regiment were watched by hundreds of people as parts of the city came to a standstill during the parade.
Men from Chaddesden and Mackworth formed part of the parade and their proud parents joined the crowd, along with ex-soldiers and members of the public.
Sixty-five soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Mercian Regiment marched from Derby Cathedral as part of their regular tour to keep the Army in the public eye.
Some of those had just come back from a multi-national combined-arms exercise in Lithuania. Called Ex Iron Sword 2014, it featured about 2,500 soldiers from Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, US and the UK.
One of those soldiers involved in the parade was Private Matthew Roulinson, 19, of Albert Road, Chaddesden. His mum, Vicky, was proudly watching from the crowd.
He had come back from the tour of Lithuania and was pleased with the response.
Pte Roulinson said: "It's the first time I've paraded through Derby, my home city, and it's a real honour. I was brought up here and people have shown a great deal of support.
"It's a good feeling to walk through the city and see the people looking back at me. I did see my mum and my family in the crowd but I had to look away or I would not have been able to concentrate properly.
"It makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck to know people are behind you."
Vicky said she was proud to see her son, who lives with her, but said, although he had not been involved in direct and active combat, she still worried about him.
She said: "It's scary when they are out because you don't know if they will need to be called-up. I'm on edge all of the time.
"He does such a good job. He started in the Derbyshire Army Cadet Force and has come on from that. He's always had the passion.
"There has been a lot of respect shown during this parade. Derby has done them proud and they have done Derby proud."
While out in Lithuania, the group spent time working together with the other forces and the exercise was aimed at strengthening military cooperation between the nations and learning new skills.
Pte Roulinson said the soldiers had formed a close bond in the regiment.
He said: "When you're doing this job, you do spend a lot of time with each other, almost 24/7 and that means you can form close bonds. We will be friends for life.
"It's good to have this level of support in the same year as the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. People are proud of the forces and it's good to be backed by people who have fought in previous wars."
The parade was the first of several in The Mercian Regiment's home counties, with marches in Kidderminster, Runcorn and Widnes over the next two days. Further parades are planned for January and February throughout the region and come at an extremely busy time for the 2nd Battalion.
Derby city councillor Evonne Williams was at the parade. Her mum and dad were both in the Army and Evonne served in the Army Intelligence Corps in the UK, Northern Ireland and Bosnia.
She said: "I'm extremely proud to be here. They put their life on the line so we can carry on and live our lives. We talk about freedom and rights and wanting to do this and that and it's these soldiers who give us that."
Councillor Ranjit Banwait, leader of Derby City Council, walked ahead of the regiment collecting donations for the Army Benevolent Fund - an organisation which provides financial assistance to all soldiers and their families when in need. He said: "I am very proud to be involved with the 2nd Battalion Mercian Regiment.
"The Mercian Regiment has a distinguished history in service of our country and, in recognition of that, I am pleased to support their freedom march through the city centre."
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