The British Army in Northern Ireland 1975-77

by Ken Wharton

  The ten dead men were: Kenneth Whorton (24); Joseph Lennon (46); Reginald Chapman (25); his brother Walter (23); Robert Walker (46); Robert Freeburn (50); John Bryans (46) who was widowed and his murder left his two children orphaned; John McConville (20); James McWhirter (58) and Robert Chambers (19). The murder of those 10 innocent civilians with no Paramilitary links left a total of 14 children fatherless. It was amongst the worst PIRA atrocities of the Troubles. The Wilson Government was forced to act decisively, and in response to demands for a tougher security response, a unit of the SAS was moved into the South Armagh area. This was the first occasion when the deployment of SAS troops was officially acknowledged.

  Scene of the Kingsmill massacre in January 1975. (Author’s photo)

  In June 2012, the author visited the site of the murders and drove along the same route on which the men had made their last journey. On the left-hand side of the road is a makeshift and oft-vandalised shrine to the men. The road is a narrow country lane, flanked by the tall grass and trees and coloured in Ireland’s permagreen. The village through which they passed is a mile or so back and there is a permanent black marbled monument bearing the names of those who perished at the hands of the Provisionals, directly opposite the village general store. We visited on a miserable, rainy Northern Ireland’s summer day and the mood and atmosphere of the place reflected the heinous crimes committed back in 1976. Just to bring the reader up to date, a permanent concrete and brick memorial which was built on the very site of the atrocity has already been damaged. In December 2012, it was defaced by either mindless sub-humans or mindless Republicans – this author does not maintain that the two are synonymous – in an act of appalling vandalism.

  In 2012, Alan Black spoke to Ulster TV and his emotional words will haunt this author for the rest of his life:

  I watched them killing and I thought this is ‘goodnight’ for me. They [the gunmen] were so cold and calculated. They shot as though, I don’t know, you couldn’t do that to a dog. You go to the movies and they’re shot and they fall down dead; that’s not the way it is. There was no sense of danger, then the bafflement ‘what’s going on here?’ This guy he said: ‘Right!’ That’s all he said: ‘Right.’ Then they opened fire. The noise was deafening; absolutely deafening. The next thing the order came: ‘Finish them off.’ There was quite a bit of moaning going on at the time and I thought, ‘Oh, my God!’ I watched as they walked around quite casually, nothing hurriedly and shot them. You could see their boots, then you’d see the tip of the rifle going towards their heads and the next thing you would know, their heads would explode. [Afterwards] I knew the boys were dead because they were moaning beforehand, the next minute: dead silence.

  Alan Black felt his whole body was burning up and he was desperately trying to plug the 18 holes in his body to stop the loss of blood. There was a steady trickle of water running down the road from the recent rain and he moved his head into the trickle in order to try and cool his body down. He continued:

  Why, why does someone come to that decision? What were their thoughts; what were they thinking? They’d be destroying all them lives; how would that advance their cause?

  One of the gunmen on that day of infamy was thought to have been Raymond McCreesh, who was arrested later with one of the Armalites used in the massacre. In 2011, the HET announced that they were investigating his role in the murders. He died in 1981 during the PIRA/INLA hunger strikes which witnessed the death of 10 terrorists. Quite astoundingly, Newry and Mourne Council named a children’s playground after McCreesh in 2001 and Sinn Fein and the SDLP refused to change the name after an enquiry some years later. United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) councillor Henry Reilly said:

  Raymond McCreesh created so much fear in the Unionist community. When he was caught he was setting up an ambush for police and Army with a rifle which was used in the Kingsmill massacre. This weapon was used to shoot Protestant farmer Sammy Rodgers who Raymond McCreesh delivered milk to as a milkman. Our equality impact assessment in Newry and Mourne means that Unionists have to live with the council formally honouring a convicted terrorist who has been officially linked to the Kingsmill massacre.

  The lonely road where the 11 Protestants were lined up and mowed down by an IRA murder gang at Kingsmill. (Author’s photo)

  On this day also, the trial of members of the Maguire family, known as the ‘Maguire Seven’, began at the Old Bailey in London. They had been arrested on 3 December 1974. They were on trial accused of possession of explosives and the case was linked to that of the ‘Guildford Four’ and making the bombs used in the explosions in Guildford on 5 October 1974. The ‘Maguire Seven’ were convicted on 3 March 1976 of possession of explosives – although none were found – and some served 10 years in prison before the convictions were overturned. This, like the appalling treatment of the ‘Guildford Four’ was a major and quite shameful miscarriage of justice.

  On the 6th and 7th, three British soldiers died in two separate incidents, in the Province and little is known publicly, although the MOD must be aware of the circumstances. What is definite is that CVOs were dispatched to three addresses on the British mainland to inform the families of Corporal Arthur Kenneth Ford (27) of the Royal Signals and Sergeant-Major Brian Anthony Jackson (35) of the Army Air Corps and Lance Corporal William Riddell (25), Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, that their loved ones were dead. All that has been officially revealed is that the first mentioned two were both killed in ‘… an aircraft accident.’ Efforts have been made by the author to obtain further information, but at the time of publication, nothing was forthcoming. William Riddell was killed in an RTA in Northern Ireland; his funeral was held at Durham Crematorium.

  Permanent memorial to the men murdered by the IRA at Kingsmill. (Author’s photo)

  Also on the 7th, one of the badly injured men of an earlier attack on a ‘Bingo Bus’ at Gilford, Co Armagh in August (see Chapter 8) died of his wounds. John Marks (51) was badly wounded in the UVF attack and died of his injuries in hospital. Before that day was out, PIRA killed a young apprentice in Belfast in what can only be described as a sectarian murder. Michael Dickson (18) was abducted outside a technical college where he was learning to be a bricklayer. Having been interrogated – for what reason, this author has no clue – and then taken to Lower Kilburn Street and his body dumped in an alleyway near an industrial estate off the main Donegal Road.

  Lenny Murphy’s life, at this juncture of the Troubles, had a further 82 months and many more murders still to run; sadly so, for many more innocent Catholic victims. In the early hours of the 10th, Edward McQuaid (25) and his wife were returning to their home in West Belfast on the Andersonstown Estate; they were many miles away at this stage at Cliftonville Road in North Belfast and possibly heading for the Antrim Road and a taxi. A car pulled up to the couple and a man, apparently drunk ‘staggered’ over to them. Without hesitation, he opened fire and shot Mr McQuaid several times, mortally wounding him; he died later that day in hospital; his wife was traumatised but was not shot. The man who killed the innocent Catholic was the leader of the Shankill Butchers, the mad dog, Lenny Murphy. On this occasion, he was acting in his ‘capacity’ as a UVF gunman.

  Three days later, two PIRA members were in the process of assembling an explosive device in the storeroom of a shop in Belfast’s city centre when it exploded prematurely. The two terrorists were killed instantly, but the blast also killed two entirely innocent members of the staff and injured 20 others. The device was smuggled into the store by a shop worker – who absconded but was caught later – and passed on to the PIRA members who had posed as customers. The shop – a DIY outlet – was situated in North Street in Belfast, close to Royal Avenue. The explosion killed the owner of the business, Ian Gallagher (41) and a member of staff Mary Dornan (36) and left four children without a parent. Also killed by their own hands were Rosemary Bleakley (18) and Martin McDonagh (23). Lost Lives reports that Bleakley had been accepted that morning for college entry to tr
ain as a teacher. Further comment from his author as to her suitability to educate young children would be entirely superfluous.

  On the 14th, Samuel Millar (71) from Draperstown, Co Londonderry, was abducted by a UFF gang because he was allegedly going to inform the RUC that he had discovered a UDA/UFF arms cache on his farmland. He refused to keep quiet and he was beaten up, taken to a quiet area of Lough Neagh where he was then bludgeoned to death and his body buried there. It was later exhumed and then dumped into a water-filled quarry at Moneymore, near Cookstown where it lay undisturbed until September 1977. If PIRA had their ‘disappeared’ so too did the Loyalists have their own equally sordid equivalent.

  Around the 16th of the month, what was probably a Republican unit, acting independently of the Provisionals, planted a small bomb outside the house of William Wilson (57) in Fortwilliam Parade in the Antrim Road area. The blast which triggered off a secondary gas explosion mortally wounded Mr Wilson and he was blown out of his window onto the roof of a nearby garage; he died of his injuries on 14 February.

  Three days later, the UVF were back in action, making a Saturday night bombing attack on a Catholic pub. Two Catholic civilians, Sarah O’Dwyer (47), mother of five and James Reid (47) a father of 10, were killed in a bomb attack on Sheridan’s Bar, in the New Lodge Road in North Belfast. The attack was carried out by Loyalist paramilitaries. In addition to the two deaths, a further 26 people were injured, several terribly as a UVF gang threw an explosive device into the bar which was packed with Saturday night drinkers. A total of 15 children were left without a parent as the Loyalist murder gang demonstrated further evidence of their utter loathing of Catholics.

  On the same day, a British soldier was killed whilst on City Centre duty in Londonderry as he was standing guard over unarmed civilian search members (CSU) close to the entrance to the Bogside.

  GUNNER MARK ASHFORD

  Jock 2413, Royal Artillery

  On 17 January 1976, I was tasked with a ‘mugging’ job at the William Street checkpoint in Londonderry. This involved me being dressed like the rest but taking sneaky photos of the local players as they went to and fro; you know the sort of thing. Nearing 1400 hours I had run out of film so decided to call it a day, and together with another lad made my way along the Strand to the front entrance of the Victoria Barracks. As we got there, we heard the unmistakable popping sound of low velocity fire coming from Great James Street, about 100 metres up the Strand. I shouted to the guard to get the QRF out and started running up the Strand. I then noticed two soldiers stagger round the corner of Great James Street shouting that they’d been shot and that ‘Joe’ was dead. I found out later that one of them had a GSW [gunshot wound] to the forearm and the other had had a lucky escape as his flak jacket had deflected the round. Leaving them with the other lad, I carried on to the checkpoint and found a sight that has haunted me ever since. Even now I cannot describe it but you can imagine what two bullets to the head at point blank range will do.

  I could hear the noise of running feet coming from the Strand, meaning the lads were close so I cleared through the checkpoint and had a look into Little James Street in case this was a IRA ‘come on’ but it was deserted. After a minute or so, I called one of the lads to relieve me as the ambulance had turned up. I was now starting to feel guilty as I hadn’t stopped to give first aid to the lad, whom I was told was called Mark Ashford, even though I had done the right thing. The M.O. assured me that Mark had died instantly but it didn’t help much. I went into the sangar where the other two lads who had been shot were and felt something under my boot. I picked it up and found it was a .45 bullet, the one that had been deflected by the flak jacket. I handed it to an RUC officer who had turned up mob handed. I then noticed the female CSU [Civilian Search Unit] lady who was standing near the corner, crying her eyes out. I tried to comfort her but to no avail and she was eventually taken to hospital by the RUC, obviously badly shocked.

  I caught my transport back to base and gave the boss all the details and got my films developed. Inside, I was totally numb. It was not the first time I had seen this sort of thing, but this one really got to me. Two days later, 8 Brigade came up with two names, but despite several visits, they had disappeared off the map. Then about a month later, one of them was lifted but despite the best efforts of the RUC he had to be released after the statutory seven days. He was a right hardened sod who didn’t say a word the whole time. But I remembered his name.

  I left the army in 1977 but never forgot that day. It wasn’t the first, or last time I had seen violent death and I didn’t even know this lad, but somehow, this incident haunted me. A couple of times, over a pint, I tried to relate the death of Mark to some work mates, but all I got was: ‘Not another war story,’ so I buried all my Op Banner experiences as deep as I could. I joined the Northern Ireland Veterans Association in 2009 and told the story to some of them. Out of that, I had this yearning that I had some unfinished business to attend to. Through NIVA, I found out where Mark was buried and on Remembrance Sunday 2009, I stood over his grave and saluted one of our own. I also at that moment decided to try and trace any member of Mark’s family. Through contacts with members of his unit, I found out that he had a young brother, and happily, several months later I was able to trace him and September 2010, I had the privilege of escorting Mark’s brother at NIVA’s annual service of Remembrance held at the NMA. It was a hard day for both of us but I’m sure it did us both good. For me, it gave some closure on something that has haunted me for over 35 years and for Mark’s family, they now know that his sacrifice and those like him are remembered by his comrades, and as long associations like NIVA exist and through the writings of Ken Wharton, they will NEVER be forgotten.

  R.I.P. Mark.

  OP at Glenveagh Parade, Lenadoon area. (Robert Hutton)

  Gunner Mark Ashford (19) was from Willesden in London and was a single man. He and two other soldiers were guarding the CSU women at Great James Street when at least three PIRA gunmen who had mingled with the Saturday shoppers, approached them and opened fire at very close range. They escaped into the Bogside immediately after the shooting and the panicking crowds made it difficult for the soldiers to react. Many messages of sympathy were sent to Gunner Ashford’s family, and his grieving family noted that some came from both the Creggan Estate and from the Bogside.

  Later in the evening of the same day, the Provisionals were busy again, terrorising their own community. They had previously abducted two brothers from a flat in Andersonstown, releasing one of them unharmed, but the other – Seamus O’Brien (25) – was ‘suspected’ of either working for the British Army or for the Loyalists and after several days interrogation and no doubt, torture, he was handed over to the ‘nutting squad.’ PIRA’s internal security department took the man to Hannahstown in Belfast’s south-west, shot him and then dumped his body by the roadside, close to the Upper Springfield Road.

  Later on that week, the British Government announced that 25,000 houses in the Province had been damaged in violence related to the conflict. Gerry Fitt, then leader of the SDLP, told MPs that some Tenant’s Associations in Belfast were under the direct control of various paramilitary groups. This was in all probability, no surprise to Catholics of Andersonstown, Turf Lodge, Lenadoon or Ballymurphy; nor was it ‘breaking news’ to the Protestants of Woodvale, Crumlin or Shankill.

  On the 22nd of the month, the increase in the tempo of the killings was stepped up a notch, as no less than six people were killed that day. In the very early hours of the morning, a UFF gunman entered a house in the Cavehill area of North Belfast. It was a professional hit, the murderer having applied grease to a door bolt in order to lessen the noise of entry. Niall O’Neill (26) ran a small off licence (what the Australians might call a bottle shop or ‘bottle-o’ and the Americans a Liquor store) nearby. The UDA/UFF were convinced that Mr O’Neill was involved with a PIRA ‘own goal’ explosion a week or so earlier. He was shot six times at close range in what, tragically, was another
Loyalist intelligence error; the off-licence manager had no known paramilitary connections. The only ‘plus’ for the Loyalist was that they had killed another Catholic.

  Private John Arrell (32) was a part-time soldier in the UDR; during the daytime he worked in the poultry industry and on a night-time, he served his country in the fight against terrorism. On the 22nd, he was stalked by PIRA gunmen who knew that he often drove his company’s minibus taking workers home and collecting them to commence work. He had just dropped off two employees at Clady, Co Antrim before heading to his home in Co Londonderry. Just as he prepared to pull off, a PIRA gunman stepped on to the bus and opened fire with an automatic weapon; the soldier was hit several times and died before help could reach him.

  In their long and inglorious history, the IRA – both wings – have displayed the utmost cowardice in dealing with the security forces, preferring to shoot them from behind, to call in hoax bomb calls and lure them into a deadly situation, even to shooting them in hospitals. In the annals of cowardice, if there be such a thing, the killing of Kieran McCann (19) on 22 January must rank up there with their most shameful exploits. The young man worked at a garage at Eglish, Co Tyrone, between Moy and Aughnacloy and was working there when PIRA gunmen forced him to leave the premises. They took him at gunpoint a few hundred yards away to a ruined house where they shot him four times in the head at very close range. An apologist – or spokesman – for the Provisionals claimed that he had been spying for the RUC. It is not recorded whether or not the spokesman actually believed what he was reading out to the assembled press. A leading member of the Church said: ‘I find it difficult to understand how any human being could be guilty of such a crime.’ One wonders if that Cardinal had not lived in Northern Ireland over the previous five and a half years. The young man’s father was a soldier in the UDR, and it is possible that the terror group murdered him for this reason; guilty by association.