and was later sent with the rest of the 6th Airborne Division in Palestine. The 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion was formed in the United Kingdom on 16 September 1940 from the younger personnel of the 7th (Home Defence) Battalion and from young volunteers – although a person could officially join the British Army at age 18, he couldn't be posted for service overseas until he was at least 19. After serving in a home defence role, the unit was disbanded on 31 March 1943, as were all such units of other regiments, due to the British government lowering the age of conscription from 20 to 18. A 19th Battalion was also formed; it carried out line of communication duties in the Middle East and Eritrea. Post-1945 The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1948. In 1951–53, the regiment was stationed in Luneburg, Germany, as part of the BAOR (British Army of the Rhine). In mid 1953, the regiment sailed on the Troopship "Asturias" to Korea, where it served for a year. The following year, the battalion joined the Hong Kong Garrison. The 1st Battalion merged with the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment in 1958 to form the 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot). In 1964, the regiments of the East Anglian Brigade formed the new Royal Anglian Regiment. The Essex heritage continued in the regiment's 3rd Battalion (also known as 'The Pompadours'). In 1992, the 3rd Battalion was disbanded and the old Essex connection ceased. However, infantry recruits from Essex who wish to serve with others from their county are assigned to companies in the 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment. C (Essex) Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment continues the Essex link. In 1947, the 59th HAA Regiment was reformed at Walthamstow as the 459th (The Essex Regiment) (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, ('Mixed' denoting that members of the Women's Royal Army Corps were integrated into the regiment). There were widespread mergers within the TA's AA regiments after Anti-Aircraft Command was disbanded in 1955: 459 (M) HAA Regiment absorbed 482 (M) HAA Regiment (the former 82 HAA Regiment, to which 59th had provided a battery on formation) and 599 and 600 HAA Regiments, which had been created from the 1/6th and 2/6th Btns, The Essex Regiment. A further merger in 1961, with 512 (Finsbury Rifles) and 517 (Essex) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiments into 300 LAA Regiment, saw the Essex lineage discontinued, the