Another Bloody Chapter in an Endless Civil War: Northern Ireland and the Troubles, 1984–87

By Ken Wharton

Four years of bloodshed in mid-1980s Northern Ireland, in the words of British soldiers who experienced it firsthand. Includes photos.
 
Proceeding month-by-month from 1984 through 1987, this historical project provides a deep and detailed portrait of the British military experience in a period of frequent and unpredictable violence as the Provisional IRA grew in financial and logistical strength. As British Security Forces worked to contain the chaos, the Republican terror group fully embraced Danny Morrison’s mantra— “The Armalite and the ballot box”—as they moved toward a realization that the British military could not be beaten, but that they could at least sit down with them from a position of strength.
 
The goal was to keep up the pressure and force the British government to the bargaining table. But as the Provisionals and Loyalists fought, talked, and then fought again, a further 356 people died. Through oral histories, witness accounts, photos, and commentary, this book covers every major incident of the period, from the ambush of off-duty UDR soldier Robert Elliott to the bombing of Enniskillen. It also looks at the continued interference of the United States and the vast contribution of its citizens through NORAID, which ensured the killing and violence would continue. Lamenting brutality and the targeting of innocents regardless of the perpetrator’s sympathies, veteran Ken Wharton, who has chronicled the Troubles extensively, reminds us of the universal threat, and horrifying toll, of terrorist tactics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781912174270

Book preview

Part One

1984

During this year, the first under review, a total of 34 soldiers or former soldiers died in, or as a consequence of the troubles. A total of 15 were from mainland Regiments and 18 were UDR or former UDR members killed because of their past association with the Regiment. Additionally, 35 of the dead were civilians and nine policemen died. A total of 81 people died in this 12 months; it was one of the lowest years for fatalities by this period of the troubles. It was also a year in which the De Vere Grand Hotel in Brighton was suddenly front-page news. It was the year in which Gerry Adams was shot.

1

January

The first month of the New Year witnessed nine deaths; four soldiers, all from the UDR were killed as were three police officers and two civilians. It was also the month when the ‘white-washing’ over the 1983 Maze ‘Great Escape’ became public knowledge, as officialdom managed to dodge responsibility for its incompetence.

The New Year had barely ushered out the old, when the Provisional IRA killed an off-duty UDR soldier. Private Robert ‘Greg’ Elliott (25) lived in Castlederg, Co Tyrone, very close to the Irish border, and whilst, strictly speaking, anywhere was dangerous for off-duty members of the regiment to live, the proximity of the border exacerbated the danger. He lived with his widowed mother in Lislaird Road in Mournebeg, just outside the largely Nationalist Castlederg; he was an easy target and PIRA killers had done their homework. On the evening of the 2nd, he received a phone call, thinking that it was from a friend who wanted him to do a job for him. But, as he went outside, armed men who had lain in wait for him to exit the house, jumped over his garden wall; they poured at least 14 shots at him, hitting him in the head and chest. He died almost instantly and was probably already dead when his mother, alerted by the gunshots ran outside to his vehicle. Greg’s brother who lived on a farm close by, also heard the shooting and made his way to the house but was unable to help. One of those involved was Declan Casey; a PIRA gunman who later turned informer. The killers ran across fields to a car which was waiting for them in nearby Lisnacloon Road; from there it was a short drive to Carn Road, and then across the nearby border where the Gardaí Siochana could be relied upon to turn a blind eye.

Grave of UDR soldier, Robert Gregg, killed whilst off-duty by the IRA 2/1/1984: at Castlederg Cemetery.

Scene of the murder of UDR soldier Greg Elliott by the IRA in 1984.

WHAT NI DID TO ME

Stuart Martin, Royal Corps of Transport

I was an RCT driver attached to another unit based at New Barnsley RUC station and Kids’ school, at the top end of the ‘Murph in West Belfast. We were forever plagued with Paddies coming to the gates drunk and hurling abuse and other stuff at us. Anyway, one particular night, we had this really abusive guy who just would not go away or shut up, so the officer in charge told us to grab him and take him away. This we did, and we slung him into the back of my PIG and took him and dropped him in a Protestant area, and told some kids in the street to sort it. I am pleased to say, that they did; if you get my drift? He was found the next day in a very sorry state!

Also, we had one particularly unpleasant dog which used to wait by the base entrance, whether by instinct or trained to do so, and bark in a really vicious way at us. [Many and one does mean: many, dog owners trained their dogs to attack soldiers when they came into their area on foot patrols.] One day coming back into camp from a patrol in my PIG, there was the aforementioned dog who barked every time that soldiers left on foot patrol; it looked savage! Now I am a dog-lover, but I had had it with the dog, the insults, the abuse, the hurled rocks and all, so I drove over it! I had a big mess to clean up on my vehicle and the dog was still howling in pain when the gates closed. I am not that type of person normally and I am not proud of what happened, but this just shows how inhuman we can be in certain situations.

One of our lads whom I shall just call Steve ‘H’ had a favourite pastime; this was to go out on night patrol in his Saracen and see how many cars he could demolish! Naturally because it was dark, no-one was able to report him! One day, some ‘Murph kids from near the Pope Pious Church, inside the estate threw stones at his vehicle and he chased them through the church ripping down the gates, and causing all sorts of damage! That was one complaint that he couldn’t avoid and he was torn off a strip for that one! One night I was on the roof sangar looking over the estate and we saw the OC running out in his all-black tracksuit. We just thought: what a fucking idiot! About twenty minutes later he was seen returning to the base, only running a lot faster than he left. Then, a few minutes later, we saw black smoke coming from the centre of the ‘Murph and we phoned in to alert the fire people. We were told to keep our eye on the local trouble spot, which the local thugs used, and report in only when we could actually see flames! The OC wanted to make sure that the Community Centre – which he just set fire to – would burn down properly!

A little over a week after the murder of the UDR soldier, and with his coffin barely in the ground of Castlederg’s New Cemetery, IRA gunmen were again killing off-duty members of the SF. RUCR Constable William Fullerton (48) had just finished duty at the RUC station in Warrenpoint, Co Down. As he drove past an Industrial Estate on Warrenpoint Road, Newry, waiting gunmen in a stolen Ford Cortina opened fire with automatic weapons. The policeman was hit at least five times and dreadfully injured. He was rushed to hospital in Banbridge where he died shortly afterwards. The estate is close to Sheeptown and is approximately seven miles from the scene of the Warrenpoint massacre, which resulted in the deaths of 18 soldiers in August 1979. [The incident is dealt with in the author’s Wasted Years, Wasted Lives; Vol 2 by Helion & Company]. Like the killers of Private Elliott eight days earlier, the killers had a short run to the safety and terrorist sanctuary of Ireland. With the Nationalist Derrybeg Estate also within easy reach, they had no shortage of willing helpers and ‘safe houses.’

Between 1945 and 1996, a total of eight Australian Federal Police officers were killed in the course of duty on the Australian mainland and Tasmania. In New South Wales (population 7.6 million) in the period 1969–97 (parameter years for the Northern Ireland troubles), a total of 30 officers were killed in the course of duty. Similarly, in Queensland, with a population of 4.8 million, there were 28 deaths. Causes of death were gunshot wounds, stabbings, RTAs during pursuit and deaths at VCPs.

During the years in which this author has lived in Australia (2009–2015) there have been seven deaths amongst the police of the seven Australian states. The years 1969–97 saw the deaths of 306 officers in Northern Ireland alone, with its then population of 1.5 million. For the two aforementioned Australia states to have witnessed the same – per capita – rate of death, there would have been 2,530 police officers killed. This puts the staggering number of police deaths in a tiny island, such as Ulster, with its relatively tiny population into a real and horrifying perspective.

On the 14th, it was heartening to see that, amidst the violence and death of the troubles, places like Co Fermanagh could still report ‘normal news’ also. During the research for this book, the author found the following: ‘On being cautioned for not wearing a seatbelt, a Garrison housewife, Mrs Rose Anne Keown, Drumnascreane, ‘blew raspberries’ at police. She was fined £35 and her husband Charles Joseph Keown (65), was fined £15 for using a car with defective parts and accessories. Neither defendant was legally represented nor made a court appearance.’

On Sunday 15th, Catholic Primate of Ireland, Tomás Ó Fiaich, sparked controversy when he criticised the visit of Margaret Thatcher to Northern Ireland. She had purposely and very publically demonstrated her support for the under fire UDR, by visiting their base in Armagh. Ó Fiaich described the visit as ‘disgusting’ and then exacerbated his outrageous and provocative remarks when he stated that people would be morally justified in joining Sinn Féin. Even the vacillating and Republican-appeasing Irish government distanced itself from the Cardinal’s remarks.

The Kincora Boy’s Home scandal has been dealt with in previous books by the author and there is no intention to re-open this issue in any great detail in this works. However, it was back in the News on the 18th, when Northern Ireland Secretary James Prior, announced a public inquiry into the scandal. Readers may be aware that the home in Belfast had seen paedophile activity on a large scale, allegedly, involving senior members of the staff there. William McGrath, Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains, were charged with a number of offences relating to the systematic sexual abuse of children in their care over a number of years. There were allegations that McGrath was an informant for MI5 and that the activities were covered up by both the RUC and the Government.

Two days later, another off-duty UDR soldier was shot, and killed in his own home, as three more members of the Regiment died in a 48 hour period. Private Linden Houston (30) was a full-time soldier in the regiment and lived in the predominantly Loyalist Dunmurry area of South Belfast. Sunnymede Avenue is just south of Golf Club and is a well-to-do area; however, just a few hundred metres away, is the periphery of the Nationalist Twinbook from where his INLA killers came. Where Private Houston lived is not on a well-travelled route and the killers must have followed him home on a number of occasions, in order to work out their journey from the Twinbook Estate. During the evening of the 20th, under cover of darkness, masked INLA gunmen knocked at the soldier’s front door, and shot him as he appeared in the doorway. He was hit in the upper chest and neck and though mortally wounded, he somehow managed to crawl back into the house where he collapsed and died in his wife’s arms. One of his killers was caught soon afterwards and sentenced to life imprisonment, some five months after the murder.

The author interviewed ‘Rob’ whose stories, although outside this book’s parameters, nevertheless contain a relevance which is germane to the period. He is a former soldier in The Duke of Wellington’s; affectionately known as the ‘Duke of Boots.’ His story follows:

‘Rob’ Duke of Wellington’s

It’s the same old shit isn’t it? Anything that embarrasses the Army is quietly swept under the carpet. You know the mind-set back then: there can be no sign of weakness. If you had a problem, you kept it to yourself and soldiered on. The closest thing you had was a little chat with the padre, and even then there was no guarantee he wouldn’t say something to your section or platoon commander. When I look back on those days I sometimes wonder how any of us came out of it without losing our minds. I was 18 years old when I served in Northern Ireland and it almost broke me; I am 43 years old now and I still feel the effects of it.

I remember the rain, the dark streets and abandoned buildings. I remember the long patrols with little sleep, carrying that white sifter as tail end Charlie. I remember the grotty little rooms with four men squeezed in a space only meant for two. I remember the riots and the burning cars and busses lighting up the sky, as we were sent in to be bricked and bottled on the shield line. I remember seeing a young lad with half his leg missing on the Stewartstown road and feeling helpless and angry that I couldn’t do anything. I remember having to go into the waste ground where they had planted a device against the fence in the dark. We had just one torch between four men, and I was thinking that my next step would be my last, as I waited for the secondary to go off; thankfully the boyos didn’t plant one that time.

As for the unknown deaths I have told you all I know, but if I remember anything else I will let you know. Ken I was almost one of the unrecorded names on that list, I thought of putting my rifle under my chin and pulling the trigger and to be honest, there have been times over the years when I wished I had. I am just now coming to terms with it and hopefully the people at Combat Stress can carry me that last few yards.

I keep coming back to the list of our dead: WOII Peter Lindsay – unknown; Private Louis Carroll – unknown; Private John Connor – unknown; Private Jason Cost – unknown. Why so many unknown causes of death? Is this typical? How the hell can we not know how and why they died? Is the Army’s record keeping so lax that they didn’t record why they died? Or like John, are their deaths ones that the Army didn’t want to record? It’s not right that the reason of their passing is not recorded. Were their deaths even recorded on the Roll of Honour for Northern Ireland?

Thanks to the good offices of Michael Sangster and Mark ‘C’, I can now add the following: John Connor died in an RTA, Louis Carroll in an accident and Jason Cost in an accidental firearm incident.

On the 22nd, two more soldiers died, not as a result of terrorist action – as the MOD like to label it, in order to artificially deflate the casualty figures – but as a consequence of being involved in the troubles. Private Norman Frazer Brown (37) died in an RTA, whilst on duty in Co Fermanagh. His funeral was held in Rossery Cemetery in Enniskillen. On the same day, Private William James McShane (19) died in circumstances, under which this author is only permitted to describe as ‘….violent or unnatural causes….’ He was killed in the Dungivern area of Co Londonderry; regrettably, nothing further is known.

ACCIDENT OR NOT?

Gary Austin, Light Infantry

I have looked at the different statistics of fatalities; I say ‘different’ because no one seems to know shit about the actual true numbers. In one stat, I read that around 200 died from RTA and other accidents, and I came across just one admission of one soldier being killed in a Land Rover by hostile action; basically being hit in the head by a missile – a brick. Ken, I believe these figures to be total bullshit by the MOD.

On my tour during the 80s, I experienced this twice myself. The first time was when I was on a foot patrol down Obins Street in Portadown: an industrial brick was thrown over an old disused factory wall, which I was walking along and landed four to five feet away, but right in front of my path. The thrower got my position correct but timed it wrong, thankfully. The brick was heavy duty and didn’t even break. However, had that bastard delayed throwing it by two seconds or so, it would have killed me outright; no question about that as I was wearing a beret!

The second incident happened one night whilst on a mobile patrol. We were travelling back to base and I was travelling in the lead landie, somewhere on the outskirts of Lurgan. At the time we were possibly doing 40 mph and I was sat in the back, behind the driver’s side of a canvass-clad vehicle which had no doors on; you get the picture? It had been quiet without incident and that was it – we were going home so to speak. You know how it was; we were tired, there was no talking and we were just listening to the distinct drone of the vehicle. Suddenly: wallop; several missiles peppered the vehicle and a loud scream came from the officer in the front passenger side. I instantly cocked my weapon but couldn’t do anything because of another landie following behind; in any case, I couldn’t see anyone as there was banking either side of the road, and as I said, it was dark. They were not hit and we just carried on. It was over as fast as it started and I didn’t have time to feel any fear. The officer was in a lot of pain; he’d been hit in his left elbow and looked in a bad way. He ended up in a sling, but luckily had no breaks and was on light duties for around four weeks.

My point here is this; a foot higher and it would have killed him stone dead! Also, had it hit our driver, then no doubt our vehicle would have left the road and plummeted down the banking; that possibly would have been the four of us done for. ‘Accident not hostile action’ would most likely have been the report. Also, had I copped it on that foot patrol, what would that have been put down to; hostile action or accident? I’m not so sure now!

Lastly, I also did guard duty at Musgrove Park Hospital and there was a soldier in intensive care due to an RTA. He died and I remember seeing his mum crying, who had been flown over by the Army. When I think back to my own experiences, I do wonder if his death was a true RTA or hostile action. I understand there will be accidents of course, but I don’t believe, for one minute, the stats on this. The amount of violence, with bricks, kitchen sinks or whatever else that was thrown at us, must have caused many deaths, but to hide the true casualty figures just to keep the statistics down, is an injustice to all, in my opinion.

Londonderry is known as ‘stroke city,’ not because of an increased incidence in cerebral vascular events amongst those with high blood pressure, but because it was known as Londonderry/Derry. To the Loyalists and to the British, it is the former and to the Irish and Nationalists, it is Derry. On the 24th, Londonderry District Council was given permission by the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) to change the name of the council to Derry District Council. The official name of the city remained Londonderry, but most Loyalists were left seething with an impotent rage. Then, in an incident which echoes a most inappropriate decision some 30 years later in Belfast, Derry District Council also voted to stop flying the Union Flag on council property.

On the 26th, the Hennessy Report, into the ‘The Great Escape’ of 38 convicted PIRA/ INLA terrorists from the Maze the previous September, was made public. In its preface, James Prior wrote: ‘I arrived in Belfast on the morning of Monday 26 September 1983, the day following the escape of 38 prisoners from HM Prison, Maze. At our meeting at Stormont that day you asked me to conduct an Inquiry into the security arrangements at the Maze. You asked me to interpret my brief as widely as possible and to look at all aspects of security. I began work that afternoon.’ Prior continued: ‘We interviewed the Governor and those members of his staff, who had been on duty on 25 September or whose duties touched upon aspects of security in which we were interested, or who asked to see us in response to the letter we sent to every member of staff at the Maze. We contacted, or were contacted by, staff who had served at the prison in the past. We made clear to witnesses that their statements would not be shown to persons outside the Inquiry (unless required by a court) and would not be used against them in disciplinary proceedings. In total, we interviewed 115 past or present members of staff, while six submitted written evidence. We also wrote to each prisoner offering him the opportunity to submit written evidence, again making clear that any statements made to us, would be regarded as confidential. Twenty-eight inmates gave written evidence. We also talked to all inmates involved in the escape who were back in prison custody. We had discussions with the Secretary of State on two occasions and also with the Minister of State responsible for prisons. We saw the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office and members of his staff. We saw the General Officer Commanding the Army in Northern Ireland, the Commander 39 Infantry Brigade and the Prison Guard Force Commander; we also saw the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary – and held extensive discussions with members of their staffs. The Chief Probation Officer and members of his staff, and the Chairman of the Board of Visitors at the Maze, also assisted us. Finally, we had discussions and interviews, both formal and informal, with the staff of Prison Department.’

This was then the brief and the painstaking way in which the report attempted to find a scapegoat. It was clear that both the Thatcher Government in general, and the NIO in particular, were looking for ways in which to switch the culpability away from themselves; the NIO was a ‘sacred cow’ and it was not about to be sacrificed; nor was Thatcher going to ‘throw herself on her sword,’ whatever the conclusion. After weighing up the ‘evidence,’ the report made the following conclusions: ‘And the task of the authorities has not been eased by the reaction of many ordinary prison officers to the government’s decisions on, for instance, prisoners’ clothing and prisoners’ visits – decisions which many officers, despite clear statements of government policy, regarded as concessions to the terrorists; concessions which some appeared to think justified them in taking a laissez-faire attitude to prisoners. The task of ensuring the security of the prison was not made easier for the authorities, by the decision of the Northern Ireland Prison Officers’ Association, shortly before the escape, to call on its members to abandon the prison, in support of a claim for a travelling time allowance, leaving it to the police to man the prison. These difficulties in the prison had their effect on the work of the four divisions that go to make up Prison Department in the Northern Ireland Office. Instead of being able to get on with their task of supervising and inspecting establishments and of ensuring the necessary improvements to security, following the rapid concentration of so many terrorists in so few prisons, they were forced to spend much of their time dealing with disturbances and protests and the Parliamentary and international interest that they aroused. Divisions had to be re-organised to deal with the ever mounting workload, and additional staff sought from the Northern Ireland Civil Service – not always with much success. These pressures on the prison authorities, together with the troubles in the Province generally, provided the prisoners with the conditions they needed in which to lay their plans for escape – conditions where manipulation became possible, collusion could not be ruled out, intimidation could flourish, weapons could be smuggled in and messages passed out and orderlies could move freely about.’

The report was clearly leading up to ensuring that the ‘buck stopped’ inside the Maze itself; the final words of the report adequately sum up the blame-switching culture of the time. ‘The problems of the Maze: tensions can be expected to continue so long as the troubles in Northern Ireland continue. Nor will it guarantee security – no prison is ever more secure than the weakest member of its staff – and absolute security can never be guaranteed without resort to inhumane and unacceptable methods. But with inspired leadership and proper support, the prison should soon become again what it was always intended to be; the most secure prison in Northern Ireland.’ James Prior stated that there would be no ministerial resignations as a result of the report.

Four days later, the Prison Governors’ Association and the Prison Officers Association, both claimed that political interference in the running of the Maze Prison resulted in the mass escape on 25 September 1983. Nick Scott, then Minister for Prisons, naturally rejected the allegations. The Thatcher Government and James Prior’s NIO had neatly sidestepped allegations of political interference and political incompetence, and this drove a huge wedge between what Australians call ‘Pollies’ and the Prison officers and Administration.

On the day after the report, Daniel McIntyre (28) was murdered in a sectarian attack by the UVF, as the month ended in a flurry of deaths. In the very early hours of the 27th, following an evening’s socialising around his home town of Lurgan, Co Armagh, Mr McIntyre – a Catholic – set off to walk home to his house in the Taghnevan area. As he walked along the road towards the Taghnevan Estate, UVF gunmen, who had been waiting in a stolen car, close to the estate’s entrance for a lone Catholic to approach, jumped out and came up behind him, shooting him twice in the back of the head. As he slumped to the ground, his cowardly killers stood over him and fired two further shots into his head; he died almost immediately. The UVF gang raced off, later claiming the killing under the UVF name of the Protestant Action Force (PAF). It is this author’s firmly held belief, that Mr McIntyre was an innocent Catholic victim of Loyalist paramilitary killers; he had no connections with Republican paramilitaries.

On the 30th, there was yet another death at a VCP; again involving joy-riders. This author has written times passim about the dangers of the phenomena, especially at times of political tension; a snap VCP manned by armed and possibly nervous soldiers, during the troubles might conceivably qualify as such. Mark Marron (23) from the Clonards area of the Lower Falls, was riding as a passenger in a stolen car, which was being driven along the Springfield Road in Belfast. A soldier on a Zebra Crossing ordered the vehicle to stop but it sped through, almost knocking him over; the soldier’s reaction was professional, legally correct and instinctive: he fired one shot at the retreating car. Mark was hit and died shortly afterwards; a later Coroners’ inquest cleared the soldier of an illegal killing and it was later pointed out that the dead man was a local ‘hood,’ who had convictions for theft and had been the subject of a PIRA punishment beating some five years earlier, when he had both arms and both legs broken.

VCPS IN ALL WEATHERS

Dave Judge, Royal Green Jackets

Setting up a VCP especially a permanent one, meant hours and hours of boredom; the feeling of vulnerability when stood in the open and having to talk nicely to all of the nice civilians. Car, after car, after pissing car! What a long and boring thing the average VCP was. ‘Hello sir, sorry to stop you but can you please open your boot and bonnet for me?’ The small talk: ‘What’s your name please ... your address? Thank you. Where have you just come from sir? Where are you going now sir? Is this your car sir? What’s your date of birth please?’ All of this time, you are watching the others in the car, continually moving so as not to stand still in one place for too long (for obvious reasons) whilst conducting a balancing act with your pen, note book, rifle, radio etc.; that would put a professional juggler to shame! You would be listening to the driver whilst writing, at the same time listening to radio traffic; all that is concurrently going on in your earpiece. Watching your lads so that they know you are watching them, watching you, doing your stuff!

Then there was the nice VCP, like when the tasty bird was pulled over. ‘Hi love,’ as you open the driver’s door and invite her to step out of the vehicle, just as you tactically position yourself by the hinges of the door. So that if she does, as you hope she will do: opens her legs just wide enough so you can get a glimpse of her gusset as she climbs out! Get her to open the boot so you may see the top of her leg when she bends over the boot catch! Ask her then to empty her glove box as you yet again tactically re-position yourself, so you might get a flash of her tits as she bends down to the glovie! Having slung your rifle, put away your pad and pen, and failed to hear any radio chatter whatsoever for the last three minutes!

Then there is the pissed off snap VCP! In the pissing rain, in the dark and on a back road poorly lit! ‘Get out the car you fuckwit! Where have you just been? And don’t fuck me about or I’ll have you stood in the fuckin rain with me for the next hour while my lads here strip your rusty fucking wreck! That’s all OUT!’

The month ended with a PIRA landmine attack, on an RUC patrol car at Forkhill, Co Armagh. Constable Thomas Bingham (29) and Sergeant William Savage (27), both from the East Belfast area, were driving in an unmarked car, between Forkhill and Newry when it passed over a drain underneath the road, a watching bombing team, some 600 yards away triggered the device. The massive explosion, estimated to be 1,000 lbs (455 kgs), tore the car apart, killing both officers absolutely instantly. The august tome Lost Lives stated that Constable Bingham, who had been an officer for only four years, was due to be married 18 days later; instead, his funeral was held in the same church where he was to wed his bride. Sergeant Savage had served for six years and was from the Newtownards area.

January had ended with nine deaths; four soldiers and three policemen had died, as had two civilians; one of whom was the victim of a blatantly sectarian murder. The Provisional IRA was responsible for five of the deaths.

2

February

This was a month in which ‘only’ four people died; one of whom was a soldier, but his death and two of the other participants was still bathed in controversy; the circumstances of which, have yet to become open to public scrutiny. The number of deaths was reducing, and whilst the troubles were not coming to an end, the success of the SF in containing the terrorists and the vital contribution of informers, was at least curtailing PIRA/INLA and the Loyalist paramilitaries, in their evil tasks.

On the 11th of this month, there was a miraculous escape for schoolchildren at St Aidan’s RC Primary School, on the Nationalist Whiterock Road. A four man PIRA ASU, aware that the Army regularly patrolled with mobiles close to the school, barged into a house in Glenalina Park and held the family at gunpoint overnight. When an Army Saracen approached, the gang took up position outside the house and fired a Russian-made RPG-7 at the vehicle. The deadly missile has a muzzle velocity of 294 metres per second, with an explosive charge of around 4.4 kgs. It was used with such devastating accuracy and frequency by PIRA units in West Belfast, that Beechmount Avenue was renamed ‘RPG Avenue.’

The missile missed and instead smashed through a gable wall and into a Reception classroom, containing 12 five-year-olds, at St Aidans Junior School, some 200 yards away. The Belfast Telegraph, of the following day, quoted a senior RUC officer who said: ‘It was a miracle no-one was killed. Anyone using an RPG-7 in a built-up area like this, must realise that they are likely to injure civilians. The people who launched this rocket were fully aware of the possibility of injuring these school children. As the children sat at their desks, the rocket crashed into the top of the blackboard and thudded into another wall, inches above the ducking children’s’ heads – showering them in bricks and debris.’ Reaction from the solidly Nationalist community was swift and, not surprisingly, condemnatory. One of the educators – Brother Paul Dunleavy described it as a: ‘….stupid reckless act….’ He continued: ‘If they want to carry on with this sort of thing, please keep it away from the children.’ A Workers’ Party Representative – Mary McMahon – said: ‘The war has come to the blackboard of the classroom. The feeling in the area is one of disgust. This was a classroom of five-year-olds; are they to be in the front-line?’ A teacher – Miss Logan – described the scene inside the classroom: ‘One minute I was speaking to the children – the next a bang. Suddenly, bricks and debris were on top of us. The children were screaming, one of them was very badly shocked but I managed to get them off the floor and out of the room.’ One of her colleagues, Liam Andrews described the scene: ‘I looked out of the window and saw smoke billowing from Miss Logan’s classroom. My God you should see the inside …..it’s in turmoil.’

This author has written times passim of the culture of ‘touting’ or informing, and whether or not those who either infiltrated the terror groups, or simply informed as acts of dissent against their organisations or for financial gain, there can be no doubt that many lives were saved. Indeed, Martin ‘Marty’ McGartland claims, with much justification, to have saved at least 50 lives. Without wishing to degenerate the discussion into a ‘League table’ of success, informers/agents such as Kevin Fulton, Eamonn Collins, Sean O’Callaghan and Raymond Gilmour, greatly curtailed the activities of their respective Republican terror groups. Mark Urban in his superlative Big Boys’ Rules writes: ‘About 25 people active in the IRA were named as informers between 1976 and 1987. This includes those killed by the organisation itself and supergrasses. Many others have declared their treachery to the Provisionals and have been pardoned, have been taken into protective custody, or have ceased to provide intelligence but remained within their community. It is possible that around 50 active Provisionals had been informers during this period. This represents a very significant level of penetration – perhaps one in thirty or one in forty of the organisation’s frontline membership during those years.’

Urban continues that young PIRA volunteers, who joined PIRA during this period, were more likely to die at the hands of the ‘nutting squad,’ than at the hands of the SF or through ‘own goal’ explosions. The Army Council was convinced that they were riddled by informers and became so obsessed and paranoid, that they killed several of their members purely on a capricious whim or through the sowing of misinformation, by the SF Intelligence services. Some were ‘nutted’ without evidence, simply because another PIRA member wanted to shag that person’s wife or indeed, because the ‘tout’ was shagging his wife and wished to remove him! Urban writes: ‘Doubtless the IRA has committed miscarriages of justice. One Intelligence officer told me, that he had read a Republican account of the killing of someone described as a self-confessed informer, a person whom ‘…we had never heard of.’

The following incident occurred in late 1983 and was received too late for inclusion in the author’s An Agony Continued; Northern Ireland 1980-83. We considered it worthy of inclusion in this book, and we hope that the reader will understand.

CROSSMAGLEN

‘Smudge’ Lees, Devon & Dorsets

On the 28th of October 1983 I was on Patrol in Crossmaglen (XMG), part of a D&D team – a brick – which had been brought into the SF base to support Queens Company, 1st Bn Grenadier Guards. As we were approaching XMG Square, a red Ford Escort car was left in the Square. Unknown to us, a PIRA team had placed 20lbs of explosives and three Jerry cans of Petrol/Oil; a very crude but effective form of Napalm. As L/Cpl Steven Taverner approached the car to check the vehicle, it went bang. Steve who was probably the best and most respected soldier, along with Mark Hale, I have ever had the privilege of serving with, was very seriously injured alongside ‘Nigs’ and myself. I was left smouldering from the blast. Dave who was on only his second patrol in the Province, was the only one uninjured.

I can thank Dave for saving my life and a lad called Calvin, from the Grenadier Guards, also helped put the flames out. I had been blown off my feet and when I eventually came around, which could have been seconds or minutes, all I could think was: ‘Fuck Me Smudge you have run fast, your feet are on fire!’ My putties and the Infamous DMS Boots had caught fire, and my Combats and my hair were smouldering; my beret, however was unscathed. Calvin got me back on my feet and along with Dave, tried to save Steve Taverner.

Also another point is that the heat from the blast melted the tarmac from under the car, and a later ATO report stated there was hardly any tarmac left under the car. Because of the amount of petrol, there was a fireball effect and the oil made the fire stick to Tav’ and difficult to put out. The area near the butchers’ shop was black, including the windows of the Northern Bank. My combats were of the cotton variety which is why they only smouldered, but Tav’ was wearing Jungle combats which had a greater percentage of man-made fibre, which melted into him which increased the percentage of burns inflicted on him. After the incident Jungle Combats and lightweight trousers were banned from being worn in the province on Operations. One of the lads – Jamie – threatened to blow the head off the Manager of the nearby bank who refused to let his staff bring us water. There was a local Catholic Priest who was there as a PIRA dicker and the bastard refused to give Tav’ the final rites; that caused me a lot of problems because I had a strong Catholic faith.

Even though it is now 31 years ago, it still affects me. Not as much now, but it still does; it might be that I am better in control, or that it has eased with time. I still get the nightmares and the sweats, waking up with the coppery taste of blood in my mouth. Going through thinking could I have done better, and knowing the answer! If I could, I would have done! Or could it be that because it is the worst thing that you have been through, that you feel a sort of safety because things cannot get much worse; who knows the answer?

On the 13th of this month, the nutting squad was in action again, first abducting James ‘Jas’ Young (41) in the Portaferry area of the Ards Peninsula, and then taking him to a ‘safe house’ in South Armagh. There he would have been blindfolded, questioned and then tortured with a mediaeval savagery, before confessing his sins. He would have been taunted with derisory calls of ‘Which road do you want to close, Jas?’ before being bundled into a car, the back seat of which had been covered with plastic sheeting, in order to reduce forensic evidence, and being driven to his place of ‘execution.’ There was possibly a religious presence, in that some apology for a Roman Catholic Priest – either a sympathiser or one who had been forcibly taken there at gunpoint – who would have delivered a pathetic imitation of the last rites to Young. Finally, still blindfolded, he would have been forced to kneel in the dirt and then the traditional IRA method of execution – two shots from close range into the back of his neck – would have ended his life. The author was told by a soldier, who was present at the finding of at least one body after a road had been closed, that the RUC detective had informed him that the hood had been wet with the final tears of the dead man. One can only conjecture, at this point, if this was also the case with ‘Jas’ Young, but his lifeless and hooded body was found dumped on a lonely border road in South Armagh, in the morning of the 13th.

Just over a week later, the Provisionals lost two more members, reducing their ranks by three this month, as they came second in a shoot-out with covert soldiers close to Dunloy in Co Antrim. Dunloy – from the Irish: Dún Lathaí – means fort of the marshy place. It is a village situated close to Ballymoney; some 40 miles from Belfast. An undercover unit – thought to have been Det 14 – was covertly inserted into a house in the village, containing three soldiers, one of whom was Sergeant Paul Douglas Oram (26) of the 9/12 Royal Hussars; he was from North Yorkshire. The three man unit was watching a property at Carness Drive but had been spotted by dickers and a local PIRA ASU had been sent for. The unit, including Henry Hogan (21) and Declan Martin (18), attacked the rear of the house in which the covert op was taking place and in a fire fight, fatally wounded Sergeant Oram and badly wounded a second soldier. The terrorists opened fire with a sub-machine gun, an Armalite rifle and a shotgun; Oram fired back and it is thought, hit at least one of the terrorists and a third member of the undercover unit hit a second one, wounding him. Alerted by radio, reinforcements from Det 14 or the local British Army unit arrived and the fire fight re-commenced, as Hogan and Martin were withdrawing across an open field. They were overtaken by the reinforcements and both were shot dead. Later, a Republican sympathiser claimed that he saw one of them being shot, while lying on the ground. The British soldiers had emerged from two cars and another witness heard one of the Volunteers shouting for help, after he had been wounded. The PIRA unit in ambushing the Det 14 had played a ‘big boys’ game’ and had paid the price with their lives under ‘big boys’ rules.’ Sadly, Sergeant Oram died at the scene.

A former Royal Artillery NCO who did not wish to be named told the author:

Just a couple of comments: I’m almost certain that Paul and his partner were dug into a hedge, the other side of the road to the property they were targeting and that Martin and Hogan sneaked up on them from across the field to their rear. You can’t give away too much tactics wise of how the ‘Det’ operated on the ground; for example, in pairs with one pair watching the back of the pair who are on the target. The censor won’t pass it. So readers are going to have to use their imagination as to how the covering cars arrive so soon and how the ‘Mayday’ signal was given. The other point is I’m certain that Paul was awarded the MM for a previous action and that he received a posthumous MID for this action. I remember checking with the London Gazette which is usually months behind the times. Not that it matters but he was already dead by the time his MM was published.

As the previous contributor has stated, Sergeant Oram, the father of a new baby was posthumously awarded an MID, to add to his Military Medal. His name appears in the ROH under his parent unit, the 9/12 Hussars. There was naturally an outcry about ‘shoot to kill’ from Republicans as once again, they had received a bloody nose in an encounter with the British Army. Later, An Phoblacht (Republican News) stated: that the dead terrorists were: ‘courageous and dedicated Volunteers for whom fear held no meaning and to whom no task was too menial or too great.’

Twenty five years, later, the same Republican newspaper wrote in exactly the same inflammatory manner – that is inflammatory but masquerading as conciliatory – on the anniversary of the deaths of the two terrorists: ‘In Ireland of the 1980s, just as in 1919, no viable political alternatives were available to nationalist and republican people. Armed struggle was the only means available to resist injustice and inequality and to effect political change. As a direct result of the sacrifice of Henry and Declan and many others, and of the commitment of a risen people, today republicanism has never been bigger, stronger and more powerful since the Tan War. The IRA leadership said in 2005 new modes and strategies of political struggle are now available to nationalists and Republicans.

Today the best place to organise and campaign for Irish freedom is within Sinn Féin. A war was fought by these generations of republicans. And the IRA fought that war to a conclusion. There is no other IRA today. Nor is there an armed struggle to be finished. Those who choose to masquerade otherwise should disarm and disband. In recent days, militarist factions have once more attempted futile armed actions. Their activities play directly into the hands of those in the British military system who would wish to remilitarise the North.’

COVERT OPS AND COWS IN SOUTH ARMAGH

John MacAlpine

1988 Armagh City; we were tasked to carry out a planned search of a farm, a mile or so outside the city at the request of the RUC. Following a period of planning, we needed to do a visual recce of the area and it was decided I would do this with my Battery INT Sergeant in a CPV. We were loaded up as per SOP with 9mm personal weapons and a car bag containing SMG’s, smoke grenades, secure radio etc. The Battery INT Sergeant is still one of my best friends to this day and we were comfortable in each other’s company and confident in our ability, should anything happen. The task was not taken lightly and we went through our routes and actions on before setting off. It was only a few weeks earlier in the same area, an RUC vehicle was ambushed and I remember seeing the effect of 7.62 from close range on the armoured Sierra. They were responding to a call claiming a woman had been raped. I can’t remember for sure now but think both Officers may have been killed. It had been a typical PIRA ‘come on’ but even during the troubles ‘routine’ police work had to carry on.

Off we went in our covert van, statutory crisp packets, newspapers and general clutter adorned the dashboard and we were dressed appropriately. [There was an unofficial competition, amongst many undercover operatives, to turn their ‘Q’ cars into ‘working cars’ by making them as scruffy and untidy as possible.] Eventually we were almost done and just needed to complete our task with a quick drive past. It was along a single road that went round in a loop and back to the main road with two or three farms along the length. We were 100 yards or so along when I noticed in the mirror a load of cows had been let out of a field and started wandering along the road. Up ahead a large farm vehicle pulled out and was attempting to turn but had effectively blocked the road. Chuffing brilliant I thought, is this it?

We could only try and look disinterested, so I picked up the paper put my feet on the dash and made sure my pistol was in my hand, but out of view and we discussed our options whilst appearing to be laughing. A few minutes passed by and one of the men came wandering down towards us, ‘standby’ we whispered! The guy came alongside the driver’s window, I was in the passenger seat, and he indicated to wind down the window. ‘Winker’ wound it down a bit and the guy said ‘Just a wee problem boys turning the (whatever it was) and won’t be more than a few minutes longer.’ ‘Winker’ who is from Aberdeen replied: ‘Reyt ye are then’ in the worst attempt at an Irish accent I have ever heard in my life. I had to hold my breath in order to stop myself from laughing; humour has always been my defence mechanism, but tears were welling up, so I just nodded and carried on pretending to read my paper.

A few minutes later the road was cleared and we drove on, with the farm boys stood at the side of the road nodding and giving us the thumbs up. We completed our task and returned to Drummad. Nothing untoward checked out in the INT Cell from this particular farm, apart from they were definitely ‘Green’. Those lads may have been genuine and non-aligned or they may have been suspicious, but let’s not forget sectarian shootings were a two way thing. It certainly reinforced the message that going out in a CPV/CPC should be treated in exactly the same way as any other patrol.

MOBILE RIOT

Steve Arnold, REME

When there was no work for the Armourers Shop, I used to go on foot patrol, mobile patrol and a couple of times I went out with the COP lads. All good times and made me grow up pretty quickly. Putting live rounds in the mag for the first time and going out through the main gate gave my arse a pucker factor of 10.

I liked NI and most of the Prods and Catholics I met. I couldn’t believe the hatred that was shown to each other. I was once an escort to a coach full of Prods and Catholic kids, for a day out on the beach at Portrush. They played OK, but when we set off back to camp, the kids started to throw stones at each other – on the bus – with stuff they’d filled their pockets with. It was my first and last mobile riot; a Pox on all the Terrorist bastards.

No month during the long and violent path of the troubles, could ever be really described as a ‘quiet’ month, but other than the flurry of deaths on the 21st, February 1984 was proving an exception. On the 25th, outside Stormont, there was a large demonstration by Loyalists – mainly from the Fountains area of the city, plus supporters bussed over from the Belfast area – protesting against the proposal to change the name of Londonderry District Council to ‘Derry District Council.’ There were several arrests as the protestant community tried to show their vehement opposition to the planned historic change. The city, which is known to the bulk of the Ulster population by the prefix ‘London’, is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ‘Derry’ is thought to be an Anglicisation of the Irish name Daire or Doire which means ‘oak grove.’ In 1613, the city was granted a Royal Charter by King James I and the London prefix was added. According to the city’s Royal Charter of 10 April 1662, the official name is Londonderry. This was reaffirmed in a High Court decision in January 2007, when Derry City Council sought guidance on the procedure for effecting a name change. The council had changed its name to Derry City Council during the year under review. Four days later, the Northern Ireland Assembly voted by 20 votes to 1 against a proposal to extend the 1967 Abortion Act, which covered mainland Britain, to Northern Ireland.

However, on the 29th of this month, a PIRA murder gang was dispatched to the Castlederg area in Co Tyrone, in order to carry out the killing of a part-time UDR soldier, who was employed by the Water Board. Lance Corporal Thomas Alexander Loughlin (44), a father of five daughters, the youngest of whom, Wendy, was just three months old, lived in Drumnabay Park and was known to keep his works van outside his home. He had been trailed by dickers, it is thought from a UDR VCP and a plan was set in motion to carry out a cold-blooded execution. As he left his house on the fateful morning, having bade farewell to his family, including his three month old baby who was in her mother’s arms and set off in his car, a UVBT exploded, dreadfully injuring him. He was blown out of the car, fatally injured but still able to speak. His distraught wife rushed to the part-time soldier as he lay in a pool of his own blood, in an effort to comfort him. He was taken to hospital where medical staff strove for three days in order to repair his shattered body; he died on the 2nd of March. [See following chapter].

February – the 151st month of the troubles – came to an end and four people had died. One soldier had been killed and the ranks of the Republican paramilitaries had been thinned by three; two of the dead were terrorists, and one was an alleged informer.

3

March

During this month in which six more people died – four of them soldiers or former soldiers – the news, which nearly every British soldier who served in Op Banner wanted to hear, that Gerry Adams had been shot, was the lead item in the evening newspapers and TV on the 14th. Many a soldier and policeman muttered a groan when it was later revealed that he had survived the Loyalist attempt to assassinate him.

On the 2nd, Lance Corporal Thomas Loughlin (44) died of the wounds he received, following a PIRA attack on him at his home in Castlederg on the 29th of February. He was buried at Castlederg New Cemetery in Co Tyrone. [See previous chapter]. His wife’s sister – also a part-time soldier in the UDR – was killed by a PIRA landmine at Killeter, on the border with the Irish Republic on 14 July. [See Chapter 7].

Poor or flawed intelligence is the curse of the ordinary British squaddie, and what is known as ‘duff info’ can lead to ruined or farcical operations and in some cases, death. Such a phenomena was also the curse of the Provisional IRA and poor ‘intel’ led to the death of an innocent Protestant – an undertaker by profession – in Co Armagh on the 3rd. If it is possible that a heartless, ruthless and cold-blooded organisation such as the Provisionals could ever be embarrassed, this was such an occasion and it was with a tongue-in-cheek blandness, that they claimed that a man they had just killed – Herbert Burrows (37), father of two – was a member of the UDR. Mr Burrows operated a Funeral Service in Armagh City, and his only ‘crime’ was to be a member of the Orange order. The non-sectarian IRA (author’s own italics) had him killed at his own place of work, but were forced to claim that he was a part-time soldier, rather than admit to sectarian murder. During the evening of the 2nd – as Lance Corporal Loughlin lay dying in Co Tyrone – a PIRA bombing team got into the Funeral works and planted a device inside a Limousine, which had been booked for a wedding. Mr Burrows ran the business with his twin brother and another friend – who had been connected with the UDR but had retired some time earlier – and had promised that the car would be used to convey the bride – a family friend – to her wedding that day.

Mr Burrows arrived earlier and opened the car door, in order to finish cleaning it for the big occasion. As he opened the door, the device exploded and the blast blew him some 70’ across the depot and over a wall; he was killed instantly and would not have known what hit him. A PIRA spokesman announced to tame pressmen that its ‘2nd battalion’ had carried out the attack and that the dead man was a member of the British security forces. Mr Burrows was known to his friends as ‘Herbie’ and one of them told the Belfast News Agency: ‘Herbie could be seen in topper and tails walking at the head of funerals of police officers and Ulster Defence Regiment, and this could have been one of the reasons why he was killed.’ March was 72 hours old and already six children had been left fatherless by terrorists who were the doyens of the American intellectual and liberal classes.

Herbert Burrows a UDR soldier and funeral director was murdered by a PIRA UVBT.

HAVING A UDR HUSBAND

SEFF: Anonymous

Where we were living, there were 20 houses; four Protestant, 16 Catholic and my husband was in the UDR. He was a baker, so he went out all hours. I said to my daughter: ‘if anyone asks you what time will your Daddy be back, say ‘I don’t know.’ Sometimes I used to think that the answer suited her. I would ask her things and she would say ‘I