Kenneth Wharton - Bloody Belfast: An Oral History of the British Armys War Against the IRA

Sadly in Northern Ireland, the war we were fighting was not recognised, nor the troops, nor the injuries and seldom the deaths; we received our Christmas gifts and letters by default but nevertheless they were appreciated. There was no welcome home, no celebrations; in fact I recall my service medal was thrown at me across a clerks desk and I was told to sign for it, but that was the way it was.

Lee Sansum, Royal Military Police

This book is dedicated to the following people:

To the memory of the 21 soldiers who died before Robert Curtis, to whom history and our Government have denied the honour of public recognition

To all those soldiers and former soldiers who helped me and became my friends

To every Brick Commander and to every soldier who walked backwards down the streets and roads and country lanes of Ulster

To every CVO; surely the worst job in the world

To Dave Hallam, Tim Marsh, Kevin Stevens, John Moore, Darren Ware, Ken Ambrose, Alan Holborough, Phil Jones and the rest of the Jackets

George Prosser and the Kingos

Tommy Clarke and Kev Wright and the RCT

John Swaine and Mick Pickford and the Royal Artillery

David Dews and the Fusiliers

Arfon Williams and the RRW

Geoff Smith and the Arfers (Light Infantry)

Eddie Atkinson and the Green Howards

To Dave Langston and the Slop Jocks

To Robert Nairac; denied the honour of a known and lasting grave

To Jasmine Curtis whom I have never met; she must be so proud of her Dad

To my late uncle, Tommy Wharton (1935-97)

To all those who wore the badge of the UDR; to every member of NIVA

To the good people of Ulster who never wanted terrorism

Above all, this is dedicated to the memory of the 1,301 identified so far who never returned home to their families.

To my late parents, Mark Clifford Wharton and Irene Wharton.
They brought me into this world and made me what I am today.

In the first two volumes of oral histories of the Northern Ireland troubles, I lavished praise on my many friends in the Royal Green Jackets. I can see no good reason not to do exactly the same again as I acknowledge the many contributors from the finest regiment in the long, glorious history of the British Army.

Ken Ambrose, Dave Hallam, Darren Ware, Tim Marsh, Kevin Stevens, Mickey Lee, Vach, Mick Copp, David Harding, James Kinchin-White and all the others; thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help, support and encouragement. Always green; forever green.

To Mick Pickford, John Swaine, Mick Potter and all the other Drop Shorts who helped me. Eddie Atkinson, Pete Townend, Ray Gasgoigne, Phil Brooks and all my other Green Custard mates; lads you did me proud.

Thanks to George Prosser, Paddy Lenaghan, Peter Oakley, Frenchie and the other Kingos. Richard Nettleton and the other woodentops. Tommy Clarke, Kev Wright, Lawrence Jagger and the other Rogues, Cutthroats and Thieves.

Phil Winstanley for all you suffered at MPH; Tiny and June Rose; I can only hope that my eternal gratitude will make up in some small way for the lack of gratitude shown to you by our Government. Thanks to Tim Castle, Geoff Smith and all my new-found Arfers friends in the Light Infantry.

Mike Day, who refused to accept the enormous credit which he so richly deserves.

Andy Thomas, Steve Norman and the other angle irons. You never let me down. Haydn Davies, Arfon Williams and Andrew Bull, Royal Regiment of Wales; you all gave so much and I thank you for your endless support. To Bill You cant shoot at me; Im REME Jones; a tireless contributor. Dougie Durrant and all the boys at the Army Dog Unit; great canine tails (sic).

To Jimmy Mac, Glen Espie, Jim Henderson and all the others who wore the Harp cap badge of the UDR; you did a magnificent job over there and you continue to do the same for me.

The boys at NIVA have never stopped supporting me and I have to mention Big Stevie, Onion, Andy Bennett, Von Slaps and Dave Langston who keeps threatening to post me a 25-year-old egg banjo via Australia Post; thanks to you all.

This list could never be complete and if you are omitted, please be aware that I will be eternally grateful for all that you have done, for the Army, your country, your family and lastly, for me.

Many thanks to Paul Crispin for the use of his photographs. They are some of the best of images of the Troubles I have seen. Good luck as a photojournalist.

To Helen, my partner; thank you for all your love and patience, and for putting your arms around me when I have sat and sobbed at my computer as yet another tragic story from Northern Ireland has meant that I have had to type through a veil of tears. Too much dust in the computer room!

Finally, to all of you who believed in me and trusted me to tell our stories with honesty and with sincerity; your enthusiasm knows no bounds. With the level of support that you have given me, its no wonder that we all belonged to the best bloody Army in the world.

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No matter how well trained you are, as a professional soldier; no matter how hard you think that you are; no matter how impervious to emotion the civvie thinks you are, you never get over the sight of seeing your mates life blood spill onto the street.

Soldier, Light Infantry, Belfast

To have allowed over a thousand British soldiers lives to have been lost in our own back yard and to have many, many more injured is criminal.

Pete Whittall, Staffords

So I saw this kid who was about 6 years old, sitting on his doorstep with his little puppy and I thought I would go and sit next to him. I asked him: Is that yours mate? Yes, he replied, but without Brit bastard at the end which was a bonus and a change. Its a lovely puppy; can I stroke him please? I asked. His reply shook me and stays with me to this day and summarises the Troubles for me; No, because me ma will beat me if I let you, he said, looking at me with the saddest eyes.

Craig Laidler, Royal Tank Regiment

The only time I ever felt let down was when our Government started to concede ground to the terrorists, and we became an embarrassment to their political aspirations. While they were busy back-slapping each other for a job well done, they were at the same time slapping us in the face and backsliding against us. They had us over there, trying to do our jobs with one hand tied behind our backs. As you know, there were so many rules enforced on us, that it was almost impossible not to break them and do your job effectively.

Tom Neary, Royal Artillery

But, Ken; it wasnt really a war, was it?

John Humphries, BBC

Mick Pickford; Ken Ambrose; Andrew Bull; Haydn Davies; Paddy Lenaghan; John Swaine; Andy Thomas; Mick Hill; Ernie Taylor; Eddie Atkinson; Alan Borthwick; Brian Roberts; Jim Seymour; Tim Marsh; Colin Berry; Onion; Craig Laidler; Darren Kynoch; Gordon Vacher; David Harding; Kelvin Brown; James Henderson; David Hardy; Tommy Clarke; Frenchie; Dougie Durrant; S; James Reeves; John Wood; Josef Jurkiewicz; Kevin Stevens; Lawrence Jagger; Marty RGJ; Mick King; Martin Webb; Ken Wharton; Mick Potter; Neil Chant; Steve Wilson; Bill Jones; Big Stevie; Von Slap; Steve Crump; Nigel Barnes; Nigel Glover; Steve Norman; Paul Crooks; Pete Whittall; Phil Hyslop; Richard Drewett; Richard Nettleton; Rob Hughes; Stuart Mallinson; Simon Bromige; Robert Hutton; Simon Richardson; Stephen Durber; Tom Neary; Glen Espie; David Mitchell; Colin Jim Bowie; Roy Davies; Ronnie Gamble; Gavin; Lee Sansum; James Kinchin-White; Jimmy McMaster; Alex, UDR; Micky Lee (71); and the anonymous contributors.