A Letter From Northern Ireland

[ap1]

I've received an interesting email from forum member and author Kenny. With his permssion I am posting the letter in full

Some 35 years since I last trod the streets of Belfast, I returned to the scene of the troubles which lasted from 1969 to 1998 and claimed some 1300 British lives. I flew the short journey from Leeds/Bradford to Belfast City Airport, a journey which these days takes only 35 minutes. Flying at just 17,000 feet, we were always below the clouds and always had a perfect view of the English countryside, the Irish Sea and the Isle of Man, a place I hadn't visited since 2000. I am pleased to report that for now and for the next million years, the Black Mountain continues to dominate the city of Belfast. My heart was thumping as we touched down; get a grip, Wharton; this needs to be done.

Very soon, we were over the green of Ulster and touched down smoothly at the renamed George Best airport in the city which so many of us knew as 'Bloody Belfast.' I quickly met up with George Prosser, my mate from the King's Regiment who had flown from Liverpool to Londonderry and we drove off to Palace barracks. I think that I got my first impression that there are still problems here as we drove past the high, razor-wired fence and a couple of armoured sangars before turning into the barracks. After security checks, we were taken to the UDR/RIR Aftercare offices and met up with my UDR friend, Jimmy Mac and was introduced to two new contacts: Boyd and Irene and THOROUGHLY enjoyed their company before being joined by another UDR man, Glen 'E.' Glen was shot and badly wounded in an ambush but managed to fight back and, I believe, hit one of the IRA gunmen who had wounded him. Glen is quiet, unassuming and a very brave man and he has promised the full story for my next book. After a thoroughly enjoyable 3 hours there, it was time to leave and head to the west of Belfast as I had many ghosts to lay.

All too soon, we were through the city centre and I saw a sign which read Divis Street and I was back in the area which encompassed the Rosses, Leeson Street, Falls Road et al; in short, the areas we patrolled when based at North Howard Street Mill. We continued westwards and there, on the left was Dunville Park and then the Royal Victoria Hospital and we were heading down the 'murder mile.' The Falls was not as I remembered it; the houses were newer, the blackened terraces were gone, there were more shops than before and there was an absolute glut of cars. In fact, the very high volumes of traffic was a feature of the entire weekend. We drove past Beechmount Avenue where Green Jacket Corporal Ian Morrill was shot and killed by an IRA sniper in August 1972 and where Guardsman Ian Daughtery was killed the following year. Past the Whiterock Road, the length of which divides the Turf Lodge from the Ballymurphy Estate, or the 'Murph as we all knew it. There was Falls Park, Glen Road, past the Granshas, Kennedy Way to our left as we headed towards our first port of call; Twinbrook.

The houses appear cleaner, there are more cars, and the city with its EU money has certainly tried to brighten up the area, but the Irish Tricolour flew everywhere and the IRA graffiti adorned many walls. We stopped at the memorial to the hunger strikers, raising very few eyebrows and then moved on. A member of INLA, through sources to which we have no real affiliation had offered to drive us around and ensure safe passage, but we politely declined this help, with George in particular, feeling no real threat. We then turned around and headed towards Andersonstown and parked up opposite the huge cemetery at Milltown with its massive Republican plot.

There, in a triangle, blocked off with huge boulders which delineate its former boundaries was the site of Andersonstown RUC station. Republican murals and protest posters now adorn what were the back walls and directly opposite is the shop which the IRA took over on 5 April, 1979 and shot and killed Troopers Anthony Dykes and Anthony Thornett of the Blues & Royals as they returned to the station. Many other members of the SF were killed in the area.

We crossed the road and entered the vastness of Milltown cemetery where in 1988, mad dog, Michael Stone killed three mourners at the Gibraltar funerals, an event which led to the horrific deaths three days later of Signals Corporals, Wood and Howe when they were almost lynched by a baying mob before being murdered by IRA gunmen. I found the Republican plot with memorials to 'Volunteers' and 'Martyrs' somewhat discomforting and I was glad to leave. It wasn't to be the last time I felt uncomfortable that day and off we moved to Woodbourne Police station, no longer the RUC but the politically correct renamed Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). If ever there was proof that the peace here is uneasy and that the SF are prepared for the worst it is here. The police station is most unwelcoming with two armoured sangars, both protected by iron bars, security walls, CCTV and rocks everywhere to prevent vehicles, possibly packed with explosives, getting close enough to damage the occupants. I was on my own for five minutes or so, taking photos as George drove off to find a parking space. I stood in front of the station and a black cab – known to be run by the IRA – drove slowly past me, the driver clocking me carefully and watching me in the rear view mirror as he drove off in the direction of the Falls.

We entered the Turf Lodge, where at least 8 soldiers were killed by the IRA and the site of our first homage in Norglen Gardens. Lance Corporal Andy Webster, George's friend and comrade was killed instantly on May 19, 1979 by an IED inside the disco block there, within yards of a children's playgroup. Reliable sources inform me that the IRA bomber was kneecapped as a punishment for triggering a device so close to children. The IRA never had a conscience and I suspect that this post-explosion action was to save face with the locals. A modern building now stands in the place of where Andy was killed and we took photos and then left. Later, we found out that we had been 'clocked' by IRA supporters as we entered the Turf Lodge.

We crossed the Whiterock Road and entered the 'Murph and, my God; how it has changed. The houses are cleaner, some with stone-cladding, there are several palm trees, there are no cars up on bricks, no packs of marauding dogs, no fridges dumped in front gardens; in short, it is no longer the ****hole it was when I was last there. We paid homage at the scene of the killing of two more of George's comrades, Christopher Shanley, killed on Glenalina Gardens on April 11, 1979 and Steve Rumble who was fatally wounded in the same attack and who died of his wounds some 8 days later. There were a few people about and some smiled, some spoke and others just looked at us with expressions which were part-suspicious and part-curious.

After that, we headed back towards the Falls and the Divis and turned left on the Shankhill Road and there the scene changed. Instead of the ever present Republican murals, IRA slogans and tricolours, we found, Loyalist murals, UVF and UFF slogans and Union Jacks and the St Georges Cross. The mood was so different and there is no outward signs from either community of reconciliation. We crossed into the Republican Ardoyne area and it is still a shot hole although the houses are newer and parked up in Flax Street. The mill is still there, home to thousands of soldiers during the troubles and the scene of the killing of Private John Hillman of the RRW, Private George Crozier of the Green Howards and the accidental shooting of my old school mate, Tommy Stoker of the Light Infantry.

We headed south after that and onto North Howard Street. The Mill where I spent 4 miserable months is no longer there, pulled down in 1989, but the site remains and is a fenced off waste ground full of old rubbish and muddy puddles. The 'Peace line is still there on Northumberland Street and we photographed that just as it turned dark and it was time to leave the area, get back to the hotel and get some serious Lager down our throats. Well, it was Harp Ice for me and Cranberry juice for poor old George.

Saturday morning loomed wet and foreboding and off we set for Londonderry, or Derry or 'stroke' city and the 72 mile journey north. The motorway took us so far and then it is the single track, get-stuck-behind-a-tractor-at-your-peril and of course, the slow, non-indicating Ulster drivers who just don't give a ****. We passed Cookstown, Randallstown and went through Dungiven, scene of the killing of Private Alan Watkins of the Royal Hampshires on August 3, 1973. We took a slight detour through Claudy, a sleepy little Co Londonderry village which the IRA in its infinite wisdom savagely tore to pieces with a series of no-warning car bombs on July 31, 1972. Three cars all exploded and killed 6 innocents instantly with three more dying of their wounds shortly afterwards. By 1972, we knew that the IRA was an evil, unfeeling, uncaring terrorist organisation; this served to prove it further.

We reached Londonderry by late morning and were stuck in a big jam before finally crossing the Foyle, bypassing the Bogside and heading into the notorious Creggan. As we reached the Heights, my mobile rang and it was a friend Dennis of the Signals and he said something along the lines of 'I wouldn't be going into the Creggan!' Comforting words, indeed! The place is a ****hole! It is dirty, rubbish strewn and dominated by tricolour painted bins, telegraph poles, letter boxes and there are IRA slogans everywhere. Judging by the amount of tricolours, we could well have been in another country. George parked up and was taking a photo of an IRA symbol on a telegraph pole when 3 men came out of a nearby betting shop and began watching us. I kept my back to the car and watched them just to see what they would do next; one of them detached himself from the group and walked over and began talking to George. After about 60 seconds, he shook hands with him and walked away and, to my relief, the other two men went back inside the betting shop. We stayed in the area for a while longer and then drove down to the Creggan cemetery.

In there – a smaller version of Milltown – there is a large IRA and INLA plot and there are also the graves of the Londonderry civilians who were shot and killed on 'Bloody Sunday' in 1972. The headstones are deeply religious but also deeply indignant and the language is harsh but evocative. 'Murdered by British Paratroopers' is engraved on each stone. This bitterness will last forever.

We drove down to 'Free Derry Corner' for more photos and chats with the locals and there are even Republican tour guides there to answer tourists' questions and then show them around. After that, we drove to Coshquin on the Buncrana Road where the IRA used a 'human bomb' for the first time in 1990. On October 24, that year, Patsie Gillespie a Catholic from Shantallow, who worked for the British Army at Fort George, was forced to drive a car packed with explosives to a VCP on the Buncrana Road. He was killed along with five of George's comrades in the King's regiment. We tidied up the flowers there, paid silent homage and then drove into the Irish Republic. We spent only 15 minutes there, filled up the hire car with cheap petrol (around 80p per litre) and then headed south of 'Stroke City' to meet up with a remarkable lady; Kathleen Gillespie, widow of Patsie who was cold-bloodedly used as a murder weapon by the IRA.

That is a whole new story and I will write about this lady later. I am delighted to say that she has agreed to write a piece about the incident for the Loved Ones section of the new book. The word 'honour' is an often over used, overstated word; in this instance I can think of no other word to describe how I feel about her writing for me; it is an honour to have her in the book.

The journey back to Belfast was long and tiring, as the heavy traffic and driving winds made the trip into somewhat of an ordeal. We got lost in the city centre trying to find Donegal Street – Belfast is lousy when it comes to street names and road signs – and we peered at the map and tried to made head or tail of the situation. I ascertained that we were on Spamount Street and suddenly that name became familiar and I remembered that it was the place where Gunner Kim Macunn (18) a Leeds boy was killed. On June 22, 1974, the Gunner was shot and killed by the IRA as he patrolled down Spamount Street; poignant indeed.

To sum up; I had to go back and I had to lay some personal ghosts and I'm glad that I did. I had only two moments of disquiet and the Belfast I last saw 30+ years ago no longer held the fears that it did for me. Some of it seems cleaner, there is certainly more traffic and I met some very friendly people who treated me with respect; certainly more so than on my tours there with the Army. The Creggan was and is, a ****hole, and I suspect that will never change.

Thanks for reading.

Ken Wharton

Author of: 'A Long Long War; Voices From the British Army in Northern Ireland, 1969-98' (Published by Helion Books: April 2008) and 'Bullets, Bombs and Cups of Tea; Further Voices of the British Army in Northern Ireland' (Published in March 2009)

Civvie mates share a few experiences; Squaddie mates share a lifetime of experiences no civvie could ever dream of.

[jefford0314]

Civvie mates share a few experiences; Squaddie mates share a lifetime of experiences no civvie could ever dream of.[/quote] How so true is that.

[Rog Ball 01]

I have found that civies will not discuss wars or conflicts, where ex servicemen would. The above travel history is brilliant and I only wish I could have done the trip myself.

[Clive Rees (08)]

What is Ken's history, Army career. What Regiment was he with, just curious.

Thanks

Clive

[ap1]

I think he was RCT/RGJ during the early days of the troubles.

For you guys who served in those early days I really do recommend his book The Long Long War. Although it is not packed with RWF stories, you will certainly recall incidents that happened to other units. Each story teased out of the individual by Ken, and then tidied up and placed in the book as a permanent reminder.

As I have said previously, you can make your own contribution in his next book. The grandkids will be impressed if nothing else.

[nasher546]

That letter was brilliant. It certainly brought back more than a few memories for me. I have herd that you can fly to Belfast stay in the Europa Hotel and jump on a tour bus around West Belfast now. Something I would like to do before I am called.

[chow]

al ken was Royal green jackets, thats from him in an e/mail.

kenny,i thought i was in the turf with you,keep well..

clive, im sure ken will fill us in on his career when he sees the thread.

[richie264]

Use Google earth to see how it all looks today, not much has changed around Andytown, I even zoomed into the garden of the house were I spent the night of Dec 31 /76 & 1st Jan/ 77 on a lurk with Ken Lyons, Paul Vickery & Dai Swift, as the clock ticked midnight Paul said " I wish something would happen" thats when the cease fire ended !! Fort Monagh which was just across the road was fired upon big time we did a follow up towards the gunmen but withdrew when the sangers opened up over us, Glasmullin got blast bombed the same time.
The site of "Silver City" can clearly be seen, now just a grassed area.
The Lower Falls & Divis have really changed but again the site of "The Mill" is as described.
Not much changed about the Creggan, Londondery either.

[jeffdj]

good letter thank you brings back some memories

[eglen john]

I remember buying during the 76 tour in Andresontown, 3 books, 2 were The Brithish Arny in Ulster volumes 1 & 2 and the other was called servivors. I gave them to my father who probably has them stashed away and still looking as new as the day i bought them, I remember they were very graphic and well worth reading, they were basically a diary of events from the early day's.