by Ken Wharton
The final day of the month ended with the death of a very popular young soldier in the Royal Green Jackets. Corporal William ‘Billy’ Smith (29), father of two young children, was killed outside Girdwood Barracks in North Belfast. He was a passenger in the front seat of an Army Land Rover and was very close to the entrance to the barracks just off the Antrim Road. A gunman, who was concealed in a derelict building at the corner of Dawson Street and the Antrim Road, fired a salvo of shots at the vehicle as it reached Kinnaird Street, just yards from the barracks. The young Jacket was hit three times and mortally wounded, dying en-route for hospital. Two children, aged 12 and 13, were also wounded in the attack as they had been playing close by the Land Rover when the gunman fired; yet again the IRA demonstrated an utter callousness and total lack of responsibility in firing whilst children were close to their targets. In 2012, in an emotional return to Belfast, the author stood opposite the house where the sniper fired and then stood on the spot where Corporal Smith was mortally wounded. He paid a silent homage to the fallen Jacket.
Legend has it that when the killer of the popular Green Jackets NCO was picked up in West Belfast by another regiment, he was informed that he would be taken to Girdwood Barracks. The cowardly killer was so afraid of being confronted by the angry Jackets that he begged to be arrested by the RUC instead. To the chagrin of the arresting soldiers – and no doubt the waiting and angry comrades of Corporal Smith – he was collected by the police and taken to Castlereagh RUC Centre. He and another man were later jailed for life. His accomplice was also the PIRA thug who shot Norman Sharkey in March 1977; see Chapter 27.
BILLY SMITH
Dave Hallam, Royal Green Jackets
Billy Smith volunteered to do a supply run from Girdwood Barracks, but on his way back just off the Antrim Road and only 100 yards or so from the front gate, an IRA gunman was waiting. He opened up from a window and fired three rounds at Billy; he was hit twice in the back and once in his head. The wound in his face was so big, it took seven field dressings to fill the hole in it and the poor lad took several minutes to die.
I remember the Land Rover coming through the gates with blood running off the floor and some of the boys had to go out with buckets of water and brooms to wash the blood off the street. Everybody in the company was getting ready to go out on the streets to find the killer and we were all deeply upset and pissed off. However, before anyone could get to the front gate, the company commander doubled the guard and ordered us all to stay in the base.
We had to carry on as normal and the next day we went out on patrol and some sort of party was going on in the streets and the boyos were all singing, mockingly and insultingly: ‘one nil, one nil.’ We knew what they meant. We stopped everyone we came across, getting names, doing checks and telling them ‘OK fuck off’ when we had finished with them. However, as bad luck would have it, I stopped this particular bloke and held him by the collar of his coat, demanding his name, which he gave me; so we did a name check and it came back ok. We told him to ‘piss off’, but a few seconds later it came over the radio the awful words: ‘Correction; wanted for the shooting of Billy Smith!’ Oh fuck! We ran the way he had gone, but no luck; he had gone! Luckily, about a week later the boys got the bastard.
The tour went on with the same type of shit; sadly, we came back home, one less that time. Billy’s wife was due to have a baby two weeks later; this is something I will never forget.
The author would like to pay his own tribute to Billy Smith. ‘Rest in peace, chosen man. I send the heartfelt hope that your children have grown up to love their lost daddy. Celer et Audux.’
Also on that day, two soldiers were killed together in another tragic RTA in Northern Ireland. Privates Raymond McFarland (21) and his brother Alan McFarland (19) were in the same vehicle when it crashed and both young men were killed. Their respective service numbers indicate that they must have joined the UDR at almost the same time.
August had ended with ten deaths, the majority of whom were soldiers who lost seven men. For a change there were no policemen killed and there were no sectarian killings or any which involved Loyalists; only two civilians died. The Army killed two, one of whom was shot accidentally and the IRA killed an alleged informer. Republicans were responsible for 50% of the deaths this month.
33
September
In this month the death toll dipped below ten for the first time almost since the start of the Troubles. Six trouble-related deaths were reported; all but one was a soldier. It was now several months since the last sectarian murder and the days of the Shankill Butchers were numbered. The days of sectarian killings however, still had almost 20 years to run.
The month so very nearly started with the death of a policeman as an IRA gunman opened fire on an RUC Land Rover as it travelled along Thorndale Avenue close to the Antrim Road in North Belfast. Several shots smashed through the windscreen leaving the officer cut and shocked. The gunman ran off into the Nationalist New Lodge. The shooting occurred only yards from where Corporal Billy Smith of 1RGJ had been mortally wounded only the day before. The New Lodge (Irish: Lóiste Nua) is an urban, working-class Catholic community immediately to the north of the city centre. The landscape is dominated by several large tower blocks. The locality is demarcated by Duncairn Gardens, Antrim Road, Clifton Street, and dependent on opinion, York Street or North Queen Street. North Queen Street and Duncairn Gardens have often seen rioting between Republican and Loyalist gangs. The area now known as the New Lodge was once open farmland within the original 17th century city walls of the town of Belfast. During the Troubles, 43 soldiers would lose their lives in North Belfast; many of them on the New Lodge.
On the 2nd and 3rd, PIRA launched two mini bombing blitzes and firebombed Antrim and parts of Londonderry. On the 5th, a parcel bomb sent by Loyalists to Sinn Fein Publicity officer Sean Brady was intercepted by his brother and President, Rory; it was made harmless. It was the latest in a campaign by Loyalists to kill leading Republicans. It was also the launching of cassette-sized incendiary devices by the Provisionals; a deadly tactic using a small device which would easily fit into the bomber’s coat pocket, virtually unnoticed. On the 6th, at least six of these devices were smuggled into Belfast City Centre, resulting in millions of pounds worth of damage to McCann’s Boutique in the Cornmarket; Gatsby’s in Ann Street plus three other businesses there; NPO Books, KS Furniture and Wizard Boutique also in Ann Street were all hit and badly damaged. The Stone Dry Boutique was badly damaged in Castle Lane.
There was some mystery about the death of John Lawlor (38), father of four, who was shot and killed by an IRA gunman in Dublin in the Republic. Mr Lawlor was observed drinking with a man in Timmons Bar in the centre of the city. The two men got up to walk to the door when suddenly his companion drew a gun and shot Mr Lawlor dead. The Provisionals later issued a statement which claimed that the dead man had given information about their arms and explosive caches inside the Republic to the Gardaí Siochana. There is no compelling evidence with which to support this claim. Gardaí agreed that Mr Lawlor had been questioned about arms discoveries but was not an informant of theirs.
On the 6th, the IRA attempted to hijack a post office van which they thought was carrying money, despite an Army escort in close attendance. The two vehicles were driving along Springfield Road in Belfast and as they reached the turn off with Divismore Way, gunmen opened fire and 20 rounds hit the van and Land Rover. A soldier fired back and the gunmen ended the attack. The initial burst had, however, wounded four of the soldiers, one very seriously. Shortly afterwards a foot patrol from a different unit saw the men carrying Armalites jump into a black cab on the Whiterock Road. The foot patrol fired seven rounds, all of which hit the cab but it failed to stop and disappeared into the Turf Lodge.
Girdwood Barracks, close to where Green Jacket Billy Smith was murdered by the IRA. (Author’s photos)
The very next day the IRA killed a part-time soldier in the UDR as he prepared to go to work on the
night shift at a local factory. Corporal Hugh Rogers (50) and father of five was a Catholic and became the 7th Catholic UDR soldier to be killed by the IRA as it sent a message to its community. He had just left his home close to Finaghy Road North close to Dunmurry and had literally just sat down in his car, when masked gunmen fired several shots at him from very close range. His distraught wife found him slumped and mortally wounded and a nearby doctor, alerted by the gunshots, rushed to his side but the wounds to his head made it impossible to save him and he died before an ambulance could arrive.
Earlier that day a German industrialist – Jurgen Gradel – had a narrow escape when he was confronted at his home by masked INLA gunmen. He was the Managing Director of the Elastic Knitting Company in Ballymena and was threatened because of the investment his company was putting into the Province’s economy. One shot was fired and then the gunmen left. On the same day, there was another narrow escape, this time for a farm worker when he accidentally severed a wire leading to an explosive booby-trap intended for a passing Army patrol. The incident happened at a farm at Anaphora, Co Fermanagh but fortunately the device did not explode and was later defused by EOD. The bomb was in a parcel inside a decayed tree stump. On the 12th, Roy Mason, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, marked the end of his first year in the region by stating that ‘… the myth of British withdrawal from Northern Ireland is now dead …’
The Nationalist New Lodge area. (Author’s photos)
On the 13th, another UDR soldier, like many of the other fatalities a part-timer, was killed by the Provisionals whilst off-duty. Lieutenant John Smyrle (25) was also a manager in a clothing factory at Plumbridge, Co Tyrone. He was in the process of driving to work along with a colleague and had just reached Drumlea when hidden gunmen jumped out and began firing automatic weapons. Over a dozen rounds were fired into the car and the soldier’s colleague had a lucky escape as one of two rounds aimed at his chest was diverted away by his cheque-book, although the other did wound him. However Lieutenant Smyrle was mortally wounded and his car crashed out of control. The gunmen ran away and he died at the scene. Very shortly afterwards, the IRA also ambushed a police patrol car – at Quarry Lane, Dungannon – and fired automatic weapons at two RUC officers travelling inside it. Both officers received head wounds but they were only superficial and both returned to duty shortly afterwards.
The desolation of the Nationalist New Lodge area. (Mark ‘C’)
Having already lost three comrades and with a fourth seriously wounded, the Light Infantry in Belfast were taking no chances and on the 14th, stopped a man at the junction of Lucknow Road and Cupar Street in the Lower Falls area. He was carrying a violin case and upon opening it, found a small arsenal of weapons plus other terrorist paraphernalia. On the 15th and 16th largely as a result, it is thought, of informants, the Army uncovered three larger caches of arms and explosives belonging to the IRA in both Belfast and Londonderry.
Also on the 15th, leading INLA gunman Dominic ‘Mad Dog’ McGlinchey was arrested and charged at a Dublin court with possessing firearms. He was wanted by Gardaí over a number of other offences. McGlinchey was Operations Officer for South Londonderry and became Chief of Staff within six months. Under McGlinchey the organisation began to lose its reputation for incompetence. British intelligence reportedly believed that he had been behind the Droppin’ Well bombing in Ballykelly, Co Londonderry. On 10 February 1994 McGlinchey was using a phone box in Drogheda in the Republic when two men got out of a vehicle and shot him 14 times in front of his teenage son. It is worth noting that this cold-blooded killer who killed without mercy, called out to Jesus to help him as he lay dying. It remains one of the most mysterious deaths in the Troubles. No-one has ever been charged with his murder and it is not known which group, whether Loyalist, Republican, or Army, carried out the assassination.
On the 16th, in the early hours of the morning, an IRA gun attack on a UDR soldier left him fighting for his life. Private Bob Bloomer (29) was returning from work and had just reached the driveway to his house. Masked IRA gunmen who had been hiding behind a wall at Cadian Lane, Eglish, Co Tyrone leaped out and opened fire with at least one Armalite. The soldier was hit five times and terribly wounded, although he got out of the car, pulled out his service weapon and fired several shots at his assailants. His quick-thinking wife bundled him back into the car and drove him to his father’s house for treatment. He was rushed to hospital but sadly died from his wounds on the 29th.
A Scots soldier meets a friendly local. (Mark ‘C’)
Two days later, Trooper Julian Peter Mills (29), of the Royal Tank Regiment drowned whilst on duty. I was only able to find out about this soldier’s loss through the good offices of the Northern Ireland Veterans Association (NIVA).
TROOPER JULIAN MILLS
Mike Sangster and Alex Veteran, NIVA
Mike and I believe this soldier may have been operating covertly. The SAS were very active on Loch Erne and also Loch Neagh, both in stopping gun-running, and also landing and searching in the Coalisland area. They were based at one stage at the Torpedo Factory in Antrim. Trooper Julian Peter Mills is presumed to have drowned aged 29 on September 18 1977 on Loch Erne in Northern Ireland. All that I could find out about this soldier was that he was a member of 2 RTR that toured Londonderry 29 August to 28 December 1977. He is not listed as a terrorist murder or RTA victim. Looking at his age, 29, one would assume that natural causes can be ruled out, so that narrows it down a bit. If it was ND/suicide, not too many units are forthcoming about it. He is laid to rest in Buntingford, Hertfordshire.
The day after Trooper Mills’ drowning, there was a major shootout between PIRA gunmen and the Army at Ballagh Cross, close to Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh. Two Army Land Rovers had been on a routine mobile patrol to Rosslea, when they spotted a milk crate in the middle of the road and stopped to investigate. It was a ‘come on’ and a fusillade of high velocity rounds poured in from a nearby hill. The soldiers returned fire but claimed no hits, although the Provisionals claimed that they had wounded two soldiers. These claims were rubbished by the MOD and HQNI. The following day saw a premeditated and concerted effort to hijack and destroy buses in the Andersonstown area. Armed gangs caused extensive damage as they hijacked and burned four buses; it started with a hijacking at Finaghy Road when the thugs set fire to one of them. They then repeated this at the Monagh roundabout where after ordering the passengers off, petrol was sprayed around inside and lighted material was thrown on board. This was followed by the same tactics at Glenveigh Drive and again at the junction of the Falls Road and Whiterock Road.
On the 21st, another UDR soldier was killed in an RTA whilst on duty in the Province. Private Wilson Penney (18) was in a vehicle which crashed in an unknown location; the author has been unable to find out any further details. On the 23rd, the ABC Cinema in Royal Avenue suffered extensive damage as a result of another cassette device. The 2,500 seater was Belfast’s biggest cinema; formerly the Ritz it was the premier location for music and film in Northern Ireland. Two more cinemas, both nearby – the Curzon and the New Vic – were also hit by incendiary devices and badly damaged. There were further incendiary attacks around Belfast City Centre and the trend was worrying as the size of the fire bombs made them difficult to detect and the searchers on the City segment security gates were having a torrid time. Female civilian searchers, accompanied by armed soldiers, would do the searching and the following year, the Provisionals would kill Norma Pearce and Trooper James Nowasad doing the same role.
The following day was a Saturday and Provisional Sinn Féin made a startling and sensational claim about the Army and the RVH. Their statement was to the effect that soldiers had a clandestine OP in the hospital which was being used to spy on Republican areas on the Falls and Springfield Roads. They claimed that they had fired several shots at the soldiers manning this OP and had put it out of action. It also threatened more action against ‘…elements of the British war machine operating in the RVH.’ HQNI were q
uick to refute these claims.
The month ended with a repeat incendiary blitz by the Provisionals in Londonderry and whilst on a smaller scale than Belfast, much damage was caused to commercial premises in the city with two names.
September was over and six soldiers had died, four of whom were at the hands of the IRA; one civilian had been killed in a political murder by Republicans. The Provisionals were responsible for all but two of the deaths.
34
October
Deaths would remain in single figures for the second month running, but would include a Greenfinch (female UDR soldier) and another prison officer, this time a senior figure. It would also see the death of Seamus Costello of the INLA, killed during feuding with the Official IRA. Monthly deaths would remain in single figures for the rest of the year; was this new hope or a false dawn?
The month began with a Loyalist murder attempt in the Andersonstown area of Belfast. Andersonstown (Irish: Baile Andarsan/Baile Mhic Aindréis) is a suburb in West Belfast, and is fiercely Nationalist. The area was originally known as Whitesidetown after the family that owned the land but they were dispossessed for the support they gave to the Society of United Irishmen, resulting in a change of name. Soldiers referred to the district as ‘Andytown’ and the Loyalists as ‘A Torn’. It sits at the bottom of the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain and contains a mixture of public and private housing. It was well patrolled by Republican vigilantes and dickers who particularly kept their eyes and ears open for Army/RUC patrols. On the night of the 2nd, in the early hours, a car containing a Loyalist murder gang penetrated the security and drove straight to a house in Riverdale Park South, close to Musgrave Park Hospital. A gunman fired one shot at a bedroom window and the round lodged in the wall, narrowly missing a sleeping teenage girl and her seven-year old brother.