THEY marched together for the last time to salute their “proud and illustrious history”.

Yesterday colleagues, friends and families watched as troops paraded for the final time before the Bicester-based 206 Pioneer Squadron, part of the Royal Logistic Corps, is officially disbanded as part of defence cuts, ahead of dozens of redundancies this summer.

Wearing their ‘Number One’ dress uniform, about 100 soldiers and the Royal Logistic Corps Band lined up on the parade ground at St David’s Barracks in Ambrosden before marching off to the strains of Auld Lang Syne.

The soldiers will be deployed elsewhere within 23 Pioneer Regiment – but their future is not secure, as the regiment, the only pioneer unit in the Regular Army, faces 115 redundancies this summer.

A second squadron from the base, 522 Pioneer Squadron, is also due to be disbanded early next year.

It is expected the regiment’s name will change this summer to 23 Regiment, when two other squadrons, 47 Air Dispatch, based at RAF Brize Norton, and newly-formed 65 Logistic Support, come under its wing.

The changes will mean the regiment will in future not be made up entirely of pioneers, and its troops will have other skills.

Brigadier Duncan Capps, the commanding officer of 104 Logistic Support Brigade, told the soldiers and guests that 206 squadron had a “proud and illustrious history” serving in places including Sierra Leone, Oman, Cyprus, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Its predecessor, 206 Pioneer Company, was formed in August 1940 at Westward Ho! in Devon and moved to London in 1941 to help deal with damage caused by bombs during German air raids.

In 1942 it moved to Nesscliffe Ammunition Depot, in Shropshire, until 1958 when it transferred to Long Marston, near Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1990 the company disbanded.

But 10 years later 206 Squadron was re-formed and sent on operations around the globe, its duties included force protection, bomb search teams and mortuary affairs.

Following the parade, commanding officer Major Derren Battersby said: “It’s a day of sadness, tinged with nostalgia.

“But we’re looking forward, because the regiment gains two squadrons. We’re losing two, but gaining two with different capabilities.”

Two soldiers from the regiment, Staff Sergeant John Bell and Sgt Paul Casey, were later presented with long-service medals marking 15 years’ exemplary service in the Army.