Warrenpoint: Remember these names

(source: Palace Barracks Memorial Garden here.)

Roll of Honour

MacLEOD - Lance Corporal Victor - 27th August 1979 - Aged 24 - Queen's own Highlanders

BLAIR - Lieutenant Colonel David - 27th August 1979 - Aged 40 - Queen's own Highlanders - Married with two children

ANDREWS - Corporal Nicholas J. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 24 (2 Para) Married

BARNES - Private Gary I. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 18 (2 Para) Single

DUNN - Private Raymond - 27th August 1979 - Aged 20 (2 Para) Single

WOOD - Private Anthony G. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 19 (2 Para) Single

WOODS - Private Michael - 27th August 1979 - Aged 18 (2 Para) Single

GILES - Corporal John C. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 22 (2 Para) Married

ROGERS - Sergeant Ian A. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 31 (2 Para) Married

BEARD - Warrant Officer Walter - 27th August 1979 - Aged 31 (2 Para)

VANCE - Private Thomas R. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 23 (2 Para)

ENGLAND - Private Robert N. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 23 (2 Para) Married with one child

JONES - Private Jeffrey A. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 18 (2 Para)

JONES - Corporal Leonard - 27th August 1979 - Aged 26 (2 Para) Married with one child 18 month old daughter

JONES - Private Robert D.V. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 18 (Para) Single

IRELAND - Lance Corporal Chris G. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 25 (2 Para) Married with one child

FURSMAN - Officer Peter - 27th August 1979 - Aged 35 (Para)

BLAIR - Private Donald F. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 23 (2 Para)

Narrow Water Castle, a medieval tower

The Collect of the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces May the defence of the Most High be above and beneath, around and within us, in our going out and in our coming in, in our rising up and in our going down, through all our days and all our nights, until the dawn when the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings for the peoples of the world. Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen.

(Here)


The day after the bombs went-off, Officers and men from 2 Para paraded at the scene of the blast to pay their respect to their fellow soldiers



This plaque is on the Warrenpoint bench in Aldershot Military cemetery.

"The scene was truly something from a nightmare. Severed limbs, decapitations, human remains everywhere. Most of these were very close friends and associates. Taff Jones, the medic, did a sterling job in very difficult circumstances. ..."

In August, 2007, I wrote a column on Tanker Bros, about Warrenpoint. That column was written to mark the withdrawal from Northern Ireland of most of the British troops after 38 years.

I began that column with one of the pictures I have begun today's column with, and I wrote:

A few days ago, I shared with a friend here in North America how an article on the BBC site really brought back a whole myriad of emotions for me. I am happy, and yet I am so sad because I am really aware of the high, high price paid to bring peace to Northern Ireland. That first picture above is of the brave men - paras - who were killed by the IRA terrorists in Narrow Waters, Warrenpoint on August 27, 1979. Of twenty men there, only two survived to tell the tale, to relive the nightmare over and over. That day saw the largest number of British troops murdered in a single incident. ('Incident' is the official word still used in news items.) And my intimate connection to that first picture? Regular readers here may remember a dedication I did on the Rolling Victory Fast a while back. Of the two men that survived Warrenpoint, I have been blessed to have one as a dear friend. I call him "my Yorkshire pud," (an inside joke that a Brit would readily understand!) This veteran of the British paras is the most amazing man....

You can read that whole original column here at Tanker Bros.

From the BBC that day:

At least 18 soldiers have been killed in two booby-trap bomb attacks at Warrenpoint, South Down, close to the border with the Irish Republic.

It is the highest death toll suffered by the British Army in a single incident since it arrived in Northern Ireland to restore order a decade ago.

The IRA are believed to be behind the attack.

It came only hours after the Queen's cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, was killed in an IRA bomb attack in Donegal Bay in the Irish Republic.

The dead at Warrenpoint included the most senior Army officer killed in Northern Ireland to date, the commanding Officer of the Queen's Own Highlanders, Lieutenant-Colonel David Blair....

Please read the rest at Assoluta Tranquillita here.