1816.
In January 1816, the Seventy-first marched to the Pas-de-Calais, in which part of France the regiment was cantoned in several villages, having its head-quarters at Norrent Fonte, a village on the high road from Calais to Douay.
On the 21st of June 1816, the regiment assembled upon the bruyère of Rombly, between the villages of Lingham and Rombly on the one side, and Viterness and Leitre on the other, for the purpose of receiving the medals which had been granted by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent to the officers, non-commissioned officers, buglers, and privates, for their services at the battle of Waterloo.
A hollow square upon the centre was formed on this occasion; the ranks were opened, and the boxes containing the medals were placed within the square. Colonel Reynell then addressed the regiment in the following manner:
“Seventy-first!!
“The deep interest, which you will all give me credit for feeling, in everything that affects the corps cannot fail to be awakened upon an occasion such as the present, when holding in my hands, to transfer to yours, these honorable rewards bestowed by your Sovereign for your share in the great and glorious exertions of the army of His Grace the Duke of Wellington upon the field of Waterloo, when the utmost efforts of the army of France, directed by Napoleon, reputed to be the first captain of the age, were not only paralyzed at the moment, but blasted beyond the power of even a second struggle.
“To have participated in a contest crowned with victory so decisive, and productive of consequences that have diffused peace, security, and happiness throughout Europe, may be to each of you a source of honorable pride, as well as of gratitude to the Omnipotent Arbiter of all human contests, who preserved you in such peril, and without whose protecting hand the battle belongs not to the strong, nor the race to the swift.
“I acknowledge to feel an honest, and, I trust, an excusable, exultation, in having had the honor to command you on that day; and in dispensing these medals, destined to record in your families the share you had in the ever memorable battle of Waterloo, it is a peculiar satisfaction to me that I can present them to those by whom they have been fairly and honorably earned, and that I can here solemnly declare, that in the course of that eventful day I did not observe a soldier of this good regiment whose conduct was not only creditable to the English nation, but such as his dearest friends could desire.
“Under such agreeable reflections, I request you to accept these medals, and to wear them with becoming pride, as they are incontestable proofs of a faithful discharge of your duty to your King and your Country. I trust that they will act as powerful talismans, to keep you, in your future lives, in the paths of honor, sobriety, and virtue.”