Visited the grave and memorial to these fallen guys last week in Cornwall.

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Kenneth John Robson 1980
Bottom right inscription Name/Northern Ireland/1980

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Pte R Rowe 1972
Bodmin Communial Cemetery.

Lest We Forget!

[Jock2413 Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

Nice ones mate. I'll have to delve a bit deeper to see if I can locate the actual grave of Sgt Robson. There is a distinct possibility that due to the incident which cost him his life, he may have been cremated.
Rest in Peace lads.

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Hi Mike.

My thoughts entirely! I will email all of the pics I have taken immediately. By the way, Pte Rowe also has a family stone to the front of his MOD headstone and when I was there, flowers were in place also so no probs here.

Chris

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Here is another although this one is in Dungannon NI. Eric was our Squadron,s attached UDR Company commander.
He had previously promised to toast my 19th birthday later that evening, the 29th April 1977. He never made it, he was shot dead in front of his family!!
I ended up toasting his death instead!!

I also wish to mention those who fell during my 4 month roulmont emergency 76-77 winter tour.

British Army

Sapper Howard Edwards. Age 24. Royal Engineers.
L/Cpl David Hind. Age 23. Royal Highland Fusiliers.
Sgt Martin Walsh. Age 28. Royal Army Ordnance Corps.
Gnr Edmund Muller. Age 18. Royal Artillery.
Major John Hill. Age 45. Ulster Defence Regiment.
Gnr George Muncaster. Age 19. Royal Artillery.
Pte John Reid. Age 55. Ulster Defence Regiment.
Cpl David McQuaillan. Age 36. Ulster Defence Regiment.
Tpr Sean Prendergast. Age 22. 9/12 Lancers.
Cpl Gerald Cloete. Age 46. Ulster Defence Regiment.
Sgt William Edgar. Age 34. Ulster Defence Regiment.
Captain Eric Shielles. Age 49. Ulster Defence Regiment.

Royal Ulster Constabulary

Constable Joseph Scott. Age 49.
Constable Norman Campbell. Age 19.
Constable Samuel Armour. Age 37.
Constable James Greer. Age 27.
Constable Patrick McNulty.
Constable Robert Harrison. Age 50.
Constable Samuel McKane. Age 33.
Inspector Harold Cobb. Age 38.
Sgt Joseph Campbell. Age 49.
Constable William Brown. Age 18.
Constable Kenneth Sheehan. Age 19.
Constable John McCracken. Age 22.

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them!"
Lest We Forget

Chris

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[Jock2413 Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

The picture of Eric's stone has now joined with the others I have.
Although his grave stone bears the UDR badge, I see that it is not an MOD one. Is this normal in the Province or is it just a preference by his family.
Twenty four military and police names in a four month period of 1977, a year which saw the deaths of forty three by direct terrorist action.

We Will Remember Them.

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I was listening to several serving guys who by the way, I salute for their efforts made on all of our behalves today but I was saddened when I heard them state what ever happened in NI?
All tea breaks and buns etc etc was their impressions.
I didnt want to argue but the figures reveal a far greater casualty count throughout the 70's in NI than Iraq or Afghan has yet to reach! 1972 I believe saw 102 soldiers fall in a single year;
I hope Afghan never reaches those figures.......

Lest We Forget

Chris

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Compared to WW2 we in NI had it tough.
My dad told me all about WW2 so I can make an informed judgement. His memories were:-
Tobruck - Eyeties lining up to surrender.
Tobruck (later, after some bloke called Rommel arrived) - dashing through the desert in a race to catch up to those same Eyeties.
Tobruck (even later) Full of shipwrecks.
El Alamein - Bloody noisy at night. (he was artillery)
The Desert. Full of sand. Full of rocks. Full of Olives. Full of Mountains. Flat as a pancake. Full of flies.
Sicily - lots of wine
Italy - losing the NAAFI truck. Finding it abandoned next day when they moved up, with Gerry having written 'Thanks for the tea Tommy' on it.
Monte Casino - battery parked in vinyard. Grapes everywhere.
Air Drills - thump your mate to wake him up or shove him out the door, then jump out the door your side. Leave truck running, knocked out of gear.
A-rabs - thought more of their camels than they did of their women. Saw their women. Tended to agree camels were better looking.
Allies:
Indian Div - eager to fight (each other)
Aussies & New Zealanders - mad as hatters, had the right idea.
Poles - took it personal for some reason.
Yanks - thought they owned all the water rights (in a time when water meant more than oil)
Brits:
Infantry - poor *******s who did all the work.
Tankies - only saw dead ones.
RAF. Who?
Enemy:
Eyeties - Gentlemen.
Krauts - had a good general and kit. Didnt see many of them though. Was too busy running away or chasing after them.
Best bit of kit: Gerry cans. Worst bit of kit: Tins of liquid bully beef.
He had a lovely war did my dad. Shame about the 75% casualties in his battery.

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In case my previous seemed to go off the point, what I was saying is that those who come back from conflict dont tend to mention the bad bits. The way that conflict is reported nowadays has completely changed.
After NI there was an effort to report in a more factual manner - partly in order to combat the wild claims made by our enemies in this age of mass media coverage.
In common with nearly all conflicts of our age and before - returning soldiers did not speak about events they saw or took part in because all their colleagues already knew, and those that did not know would never understand.

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I was listening to several serving guys who by the way, I salute for their efforts made on all of our behalves today but I was saddened when I heard them state what ever happened in NI?
All tea breaks and buns etc etc was their impressions.
I didnt want to argue but the figures reveal a far greater casualty count throughout the 70's in NI than Iraq or Afghan has yet to reach! 1972 I believe saw 102 soldiers fall in a single year;

Chris

Switches: Please see my latest book: 'The Bloodiest Year; Northern Ireland 1972' 172 British soldiers died in or as a consequence of the troubles. Not sure where you got 102 from, but it is way out. I can e-mail you a 1972 ROH if you would like to see it. That year also saw 17 RUC deaths.

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Brilliant correction but that makes it worse!!! But where did I see my offered figure? Not from our own ROH is it?

[Jock2413 Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

Ken, the figure of 102 is the official MOD fatality list due to direct terrorist action. On top of that, there were 26 UDR and the 17 RUC that you mention. In the 70's, the MOD differentiated between the regular army and the UDR, classing the latter as more of a territorial militia than a full time military unit.
The army PR department has to shoulder a lot of the blame for giving the public the false perception that NI in the early 70's was all tea, cakes and discos. The only official access that the media were given was reporting rights on community projects, soldiers at rest and soldiers posing with some piece of crumpet who'd won some obscure beauty contest. I know from personal experience that the lads on the ground were banned from speaking to the media unless it was a staged event which would be heavily censored before being allowed in print. A new job was created for Ruperts called the PRO (Public Relations Officer) which was usually given to some oxygen thief who was useless at anything else. Any real interviews which related to loss of life or some major atrocity were given by either the C.O. or the 2i/c.
There were countless acts of gallantry performed during that time, which nowadays, would have resulted in some form of official recognition coupled with good media coverage, but they were usually rewarded by a pat on the back and "I owe you a pint for that mate" The award of the GSM only came into being May/June 71 and I can only recall one gallantry award, the military medal, being awarded prior then and that was kept quiet. The posthumous GC awarded to Sgt Willets of the Parachute Regiments for his selfless actions at Springfield Road RUC station was the first time, in my memory, that an act of bravery was given widespread media coverage.
A typical action that went unrewarded was that of Sgt John Green of my regiment. In January 1971, his unit were based at Bessbrook when a telephone warning came in of a bomb having been planted at the Fathom Mountain UTV mast. John was despatched with a mobile to investigate. When they got there, they found what was up till then, the largest bomb planted in the Province, 48 lbs of gelignite with an alarm clock initiator.. The nearest ATO was ages away so John decided to deal with it himself. He disconnected the battery and as he disconnected the alarm clock it went Brrrrrrr. He escaped death by seconds. When the ATO arrived, John got a right old bollocking. Although HQNI gave the story to the media, I think it was only the Daily Express that gave it a few lines on one of its inside pages. John was given no official recognition for his actions that night. As far as he was concerned, he was fulfilling part of his remit which was to defend civilian property. Even today, very few soldiers let alone civilians know of this incident, and years later, I have only seen it mentioned in print once which was in the book "British Army in Northern Ireland" written in 1985 by Mike Dewar.
Sadly, John was killed in a helicopter crash at Batus on 16 July 1987 and if not for people like ourselves, his story would have died with him. I had the privilege of writing a short version of this incident which appears in Ken's latest book The Bloodiest Year". Now, whoever reads it will know what kind of man John Green was.

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Very interesting post indeed and thankyou for confirming the figure I quoted, even though it was not the revised figure and to Ken; yes please, I would be delighted to receive a copy of your books ROH. Thank you.

Here you go; chrislock134@yahoo.com

Chris

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Chris; will e-mail my tonight (your late morning); my pleasure.