Duke of Cornwall ' s Light Infantry The Duke of Cornwall ' s Light Infantry ( DCLI ) was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959 . Its lineage is continued today by The Rifles . The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms , by the merger of the 32nd ( Cornwall Light Infantry ) Regiment of Foot and the 46th ( South Devonshire ) Regiment of Foot . The DCLI also incorporated the militia and rifle volunteers of Cornwall . In 1959 the regiment merged with the Somerset Light Infantry to form the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry . History . 1881 – 1899 . Under the Childers system , one regular battalion of each regiment was to be at a " home " station , while the other was abroad . Every few years , there was to be an exchange of battalions . In the period from the regiment ' s formation to the outbreak of the Second Boer War the two regular battalions were stationed as follows : 1899 – 1914 . In October 1899 war broke out between the United Kingdom and the Boer Republics . The 2nd Battalion arrived in South Africa in the following month , where it took part in minor actions on the western border of the Cape Colony . In February 1900 it became part of the 19th Brigade . It saw action against the Boers at Paardeburg , and in March 1900 entered Bloemfontein . It continued to take part in a series of skirmishes until the end of the war . The 1st Battalion took no part on the war , moving from India to Ceylon in December 1900 where its soldiers guarded South African prisoners of war . Following the war in South Africa , the system of rotating battalions between home and foreign stations resumed as follows : Reserve battalions 1881 – 1914 . The 1881 reorganisation also redesignated the militia and rifle volunteers of Cornwall as battalions of the regiment as follows : Neither militia nor volunteer battalions were liable for service outside the United Kingdom . However , in the Second Boer War , both volunteer battalions contributed " Active Service Companies " that reinforced the regular battalions , and were awarded the battle honour " South Africa 1900 – 1901 " . In 1908 reserve forces were reorganised by the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 ( the Haldane Reforms ) . The militia was renamed the " Special Reserve " , with the duty of providing trained recruits in time of war . The volunteer battalions became part of the new Territorial Force , which was organised into 14 infantry divisions which were called upon to serve abroad . On 1 April 1908 the three reserve battalions were accordingly redesignated as the 3rd ( Special Reserve ) , 4th ( Territorial Force ) and 5th ( Territorial Force ) Battalions , DCLI . World War I . The war saw a large expansion of the regiment . This was done in two ways : by the formation of duplicate units to the existing territorial battalions , and by the raising of wartime " New Army " or Service battalions . The following battalions of the DCLI saw active service in the conflict : World War II . In the war the regiment was increased to seven battalions . In 1944 Hill 112 in Normandy acquired the name " Cornwall Hill " after Cornish soldiers of 5th Duke of Cornwall ' s Light Infantry suffered 320 casualties in the fighting there . Post - War . The regiment was reduced back to two battalions following the war . Between 1946 and 1954 , the First Battalion served in Palestine , Cyprus , Somaliland , England , and the Federal Republic of Germany . The Second Battalion , between 1946 and 1948 , served in Greece ( including Eastern Macedonia ) . In 1948 , it was reduced to a skeleton " Representative Cadre " , before being amalgamated into the First Battalion in 1950 . In 1954 , the First Battalion was posted to Jamaica , the last battalion to be posted to the West Indies for a full , three - year term . A Company detached on transit , posted to Prospect Camp , in the $ 3 archipelago of Bermuda . The Bermuda Garrison no longer received a full Regular Army infantry battalion as the part - time Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps ( BVRC ) and Bermuda Militia Artillery ( BMA ) had long - since taken on most of the responsibility for local defence . A Company would be the last regular unit posted on garrison to Bermuda , with its departure constituting the withdrawal of the garrison from the one time " Fortress Bermuda " . The Officer Commanding A Company , Major J . Anthony Marsh , DSO , a Second World War veteran of the Special Air Services , took permanent residence in Bermuda after leaving the Regular Army , retiring from military service in 1970 as a Lieutenant - Colonel , commanding the Bermuda Regiment ( a 1965 amalgam of the BVRC and BMA ) . E Company also detached , being posted to British Honduras . In 1957 , A and E Companies reunited with the rest of the Battalion in England , before being posted to Germany , where it remained ' til 1959 . On the 6th of October , 1959 , the Duke of Cornwall ' s Light Infantry merged with the Somerset Light Infantry to form the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry . Duke of Cornwall ' s Light Infantry Regimental Museum . The original barracks in Bodmin houses the regimental museum , founded in 1925 . It includes the history of the regiment from 1702 , plus a military library . There is a fine collection of small arms and machine guns , plus maps , uniforms and paintings on show . Included in the display are the medals of Harry Patch , the last British survivor of the First World War , and the VC awarded to Herbert Augustine Carter for gallantry in Somaliland in 1903 . Bodmin Parish Church was the regimental place of worship where there are memorials to some of the servicemen and regimental colours from the past . Literature . " Surfing Tommies " is a 2009 play by the Cornish author Alan M . Kent which follows the lives of three members of the Duke of Cornwall ' s Light Infantry on a journey from the mines of Cornwall to the fields of Flanders , where they learned to surf with South African troops . Notable members . Recipients of the Victoria Cross . Eight soldiers of the DCLI were awarded the VC including : Battle honours . Battle Honours of the regiment : -