Why I’m so proud of my brothers in arms
My EARLIEST memory of deploying to Northern Ireland was landing on a wet and dark night at RAF Aldergrove 27 years ago. I was a 21-year-old platoon commander with the Scots Guards. It was my first operational tour and a million miles away from the comforts of our base in Germany.
As we waited for our kit to come off the plane, we were each approached by an old lady who gave us a pencil and said, ‘God bless you’. To this day I do not know who she was, but her determination to welcome us, late at night in a cold and damp warehouse, represented the inherent goodness of the vast majority of the people of Northern Ireland.
The year 1992 saw an upsurge in violence in Belfast. Our job was to continue the fight against the terrorists. Success would be measured by how much we could reduce public support for the IRA or UVF and by our commitment to defending those that couldn’t defend themselves – Catholic or Protestant.
Walking streets that look and feel like home while facing a deadly threat is a unique experience. Sometimes there would be attacks or riots but most of the time the terrorists hid among the community.
Every soldier who served on Operation Banner tours learnt a new vocabulary. The phrase I and many soldiers will remember most is ‘lock all the phones’. A chilling message that would be directed across the radio net when one of us was injured or killed and it usually followed a terrorist attack. Before mobiles, camps had banks of pay phones and the last thing anyone wanted was gossip getting to a next of kin before they were properly informed. So the
phones were locked. I remember hearing it a few times and I remember the grim news when we lost two of our own on that tour.
In the nearly 38 years of Operation Banner, 1,441 members of the Armed Forces gave their lives as well as more than 300 RUC police officers. They died trying to defend democratic values and freedoms.
Northern Ireland veterans in their 70s and 80s should now be enjoying their retirement – not dealing with the trauma of waiting for a knock on the door when there is no new evidence that an offence has been committed.
Veterans of Operation Banner should be incredibly proud that they defeated the terrorists and the operation was successful and we should be celebrating it.
So this week, 50 years on from the start of Operation Banner, I shall stand proud alongside the many veterans marking the occasion and I shall remember Guardsman Andrew Wason and Guardsman Damian Shackleton who didn’t come home from my tour.
The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 was a great achievement for all involved, and I want to see all communities continue to move forward in the spirit of peace.