SOLDIERS remembered the 100th anniversary of their regimental colleague’s heroic death when they marched through York on Saturday.

The Royal Dragoon Guards were applauded as they paid tribute to polar explorer Captain Lawrence Oates.

Exactly 100 years earlier, on the night before his 32nd birthday, on March 17, 1912, Capt Oates walked out of a tent into an Antarctic blizzard with the words: “I am just going outside and may be some time.” His body has never been recovered.

He was returning from the South Pole with Captain Robert Scott and two other explorers and knew that his injuries were slowing the party so much they would have a better chance of survival without him. Ever since, the regiment has marked Oates Day with memorial events.

Major Rupert Smith, of the Guards, said: “We are unique in celebrating a man, not a battle honour, as our Regimental day. But Capt Oates remains an inspiration to soldiers to this day; his sacrifice is exemplary of the six core values that the Army holds dear: discipline, courage, selfless commitment, integrity, loyalty and respect for others. No matter where we are in the world, we always celebrate Oates Day.”

Today’s regimental members, who are based at Catterick, marched from Goodramgate past York Minister to Duncombe Place where they received a special presentation of shamrocks for St Patrick’s Day from the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Lord Crathorne, and the Lord Mayor of York, Coun David Horton, and other civic dignataries.

They then attended a service in Capt Oates’ memory before a second march past York Minster in honour of the Civic Party.

It was the last time all the regiment was together before they go on active service in Afghanistan this summer.

Capt Oates belonged to the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, one of the four ancestral regiments of the Royal Dragoon Guards.