Imjin Barracks is located at the site of the former RAF Innsworth, which was a non-flying Royal Air Force station between 1940 and 2008.
Imjin Barracks (shaded) within Innsworth.
The station opened in 1940, the first unit based there being No 7 School of Technical Training, which trained engine and airframe fitters and mechanics. In December 1941, No 2 WAAF Depot was opened at Innsworth and from then on the station became increasingly associated with the women's branch of the service. Eventually it was decided to reserve the station almost exclusively for WAAF training, including barrage balloon training amongst other vital roles.
In 1951, the headquarters of the RAF Record Office which had been based nearby in Gloucester and Barnwood, moved to the station and gained Group status. Three years later, in 1954, No. 5 Personnel Despatch Unit arrived, charged with the administration and processing of personnel selected for overseas service.
Just after the war ended, the RAF Base Accounts Office moved from York to Gloucester and grew into the Central Pay Office and became part of the RAF Personnel and Training Command, which formed in 1994, based at Innsworth.
In 2005 it was announced that HQ Personnel and Training Command was to co-locate with HQ RAF Strike CommandatRAF High Wycombe. The new collocated HQ's were subsequently merged to form Air Command and the decision was taken to close RAF Innsworth. The drawdown took place over the next three years with elements of the Personnel Management Agency moved to High Wycombe and RAF Cranwell. RAF Innsworth finally closed on 31 March 2008.[1]
The Innsworth site is now managed by the Army and has been renamed Imjin Barracks. When the RAF vacated the site in 2008, elements of AFPAA (renamed Defence Business Services in 2014) including the MoD Medal Office and Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre continued to operate from the site.[2][3]
The barracks were named after the Battle of the Imjin River because of the connection with the Gloucestershire Regiment, which formed part of the United Nations contingent in the Korean War, and was thought to be an appropriate name for the headquarters of ARRC, which is a multinational force.[6]
^"The former RAF Innsworth site in Gloucestershire was officially renamed Imjin Barracks at a special ceremony on Friday 21 November 2008". It was formerly known as RAF Innsworth.(Farewell Innsworth, welcome Imjin, An Estate and Environment news article, 24 November 2008).
^"The fanfare of ownership and naming has subsided and the real business of making a home for ARRC begins in a material way" (Work begins at Imjin barracks, This is Glostershire, 14 February 2009)
^"In 2010, Imjin Barracks in Gloucester (formerly RAF Innsworth) will become home to the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) - a deployable NATO HQ relocating from Germany" (Defence in the South West, MOD, retrieved 2009-12-06)
^"The Korean War was a United Nations campaign and it is significant that nine of our partners in the ARRC fought alongside the British under the UN flag. It is also a name that generates tremendous and understandable local pride as the 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment won a Battle Honour for their part at the battle, and their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel James Carne, was awarded the Victoria Cross and the US Army's Distinguished Service Cross for his actions, and Lieutenant Philip Curtis was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross."(Farewell Innsworth, welcome Imjin, An Estate and Environment news article, 24 November 2008).
British Army
