These pages are dedicated
to those who paid the ultimate price in the name of their
country during the bloodiest thirty-plus years of domestic British history ...

Royal Irish Regiment Regimental Association CGC.

The Association was formed following the disbandment of
the three Home Service (HS) Battalions in 2007.

Ulster Defence Regiment (CGC)

The Ulster Defence Regiment lost 197 Soldiers (4 of whom were female) during Op. Banner while in Service. A further 61 were targeted and murdered AFTER having left the Regiment.

The UDR Soldier

As poppy petal gently fall
Remember us who gave our all
Not in the mud of foreign lands
Nor buried in the desert sands.

In Ulster field and farm and town,
Fermanagh's lanes and drumlin'd Down
We died that violent death should cease
And Ulstermen might live in peace.

We did not serve because we hate
Nor bitterness our hearts dictate.

But we were they who must aspire
To quench the flame of terror's fire.

Grieve not for us, but this we ask,
Let others yet take up the task.

© John Potter

The letters CGC stand for Conspicuous Gallantry Cross which was awarded to the Regiment by HM The Queen on 6th October 2006 ... this award was to the Regiment and is unique as no bravery award has ever been awarded to any Regiment before or since, thus the full title of the Regiment is the Ulster Defence Regiment CGC (for short). 
The award of the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross was awarded ONLY to the Ulster Defence Regiment and the HOME SERVICE Battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment who served solely in the province ...

2nd Battalion

3rd Battalion

4th Battalion

5th Battalion

6th Battalion

7th Battalion

8th Battalion

9th Battalion

10th Battalion

11th Battalion

1st - 9th Battalion

4th - 6th Battalion

7th - 10th Battalion

RTA's

Training Camp

Pte W. Dennis Wilson Age 31 (Part Time) J. Coy.
7th December 1971. Shot in his bedroom at the family Farm in Curlough by gunmen who forced their way in. He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

L/Cpl Henry Gillespie Age 32 (Full Time) L. Coy.
20th May 1972. Shot in an IRA ambush while on mobile patrol at Killyliss near Dungannon.
He was single and on duty at the time of his death.

Pte Fred D. Greeves Age 40 (Part Time) J. Coy.
15th December 1972. Shot by the OIRA as he left work to go home in Armagh. He returned fire at the gunmen. He was married with 2 children and off duty at the time of his death.

Cpl Franklin Caddoo Age 24 (Part Time) L. Coy.
10th May 1973. Shot dead by the IRA in Rehaghy on his farm, he was shot at close range. His wife was pregnant at the time of his death. He was married with 2 children and off duty at the time of his death.

Captain Cormac McCabe Age 42.(Part Time) L. Coy.
19th January 1974. He was abducted by the IRA from a hotel in the Irish Republic. The following morning his body was found inside Northern Ireland in a field near Clogher. He had been blindfolded and shot. When not on duty he was a headmaster in one of the schools. He was married with 2 children and off duty when he was abducted and executed.

Cpl Roy T. Moffett Age 36 (Part Time) G. Coy.
3rd March 1974. Killed when an IRA landmine exploded as the Landrover he was travelling in drove along the Cookstown Road to Omagh Road. He died from a fatal head injury, Three other soldiers were also injured. He was single and on duty at the time of his death.

WO2 David Sinnamon Age 34 (Part Time ) K. Coy.
11th April 1974. Killed by an IRA booby trap as he searched a derelict house in Dungannon. He stepped on a pressure plate the Inquest recorded. He was married with 2 children and on duty at the time of his death.

Pte Edmund R. L. Stewart Age 31 (Part Time) J. Coy.
29th April 1976. Shot after gunmen lured him and his brother in law from his sisters house in Dunamoney, on the pretence that cattle had broken loose, He had only been in the UDR one week. His Brother in Law Stanley Arthurs died of his injuries a few days later. He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

L/Cpl Stanley D. Adams Age 29 (Part Time) K. Coy.
28th October 1976. Shot by the IRA as he delivered post to a remote farmhouse in Altmore. The IRA had posted the letter to the address in preparation for the Ambush. He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

Pte John Reid Age 52 (Full Time) L. Coy.
9th March 1977. Ambushed by the IRA and shot as he went to feed his cattle at Glasslough. His body was taken five and a half miles away and left just 18 feet on the northern side of the border at Annaghmore Bridge. He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

Cpl Davy Graham Age 38 (Part Time) J. Coy.
25th March 1977. Fatally injured in an IRA gun attack on the 15th March 1977. His killers held up staff at the cement plant in Gortonis were he worked. They waited for him to arrive. On his arrival in the canteen he was gunned down. He was married with 3 children and off duty at the time of his death.

Captain W. Eric Shields Age 49 (Part Time) G. Coy.
29th April 1977. Shot by the IRA as he got into his car outside his home in Dungannon. He had served with the Royal Navy in World War 2. He was married with 6 children and off duty at the time of his death.

2nd/Lt Robin Smyrl Age 27 (Part Time) C. Coy.
13th September 1977. Shot by the IRA as he drove to work in Plumbridge. Gunmen opened fire on the car and it crashed into a telegraph pole, a passenger in the car was wounded in the chest. He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

Pte Bob J. Bloomer Age 29 (Part Time) J. Coy
24th September 1977. Fatally wounded in an IRA gun attack on the 16th September 1977 as he drove his car into the laneway of his home in Eglish, although hit five times in the back he managed to return fire. His wife bundled him into their car and drove to his fathers home nearby. He was married with 2 children and off duty at the time of the attack

Sgt Jock B Eaglesham MID. Age 58 (Part Time) K. Coy.
7th February 1978. Shot by the IRA on his normal post run near Cookstown. He managed to draw his pistol but died of chest wounds before he could return fire. He had served in the Army Reserve during World War 2. He was posthumously awarded "Mentioned in Dispatches".
He was married with 4 children and off duty at the time of his death.

Pte G. Sammy Gibson Age 52 (Part Time) C. Coy.
29th April 1979. Shot by the IRA as he cycled to work at Tyrone Brick Works, His wife and daughter were told of his death as they approached the scene in a car, He was hit 10 times.
He was married with 2 children and off duty at the time of his death.

Cpl Fred H. Irwin Age 43 (Part Time) D. Coy.
30th October 1979. Shot by the IRA as he drove to work in Dungannon. He had received death threats from the IRA and had been varying his route, but could not avoid the last stretch. His brother Thomas also a soldier in the UDR was murdered by the IRA later in 1986. He was married with 5 children and off duty at the time of his death.

Pte W. Jack Donnelly Age 56 (part Time) D. Coy.
16th April 1981. Shot by INLA as he sat in his local pub in Moy. He was awarded the GOC’s Commendation on 15th April 1980. His brother in Law was shot dead by the IRA 10 months earlier. He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

L/Cpl Cecil W. McNeill Age 22 (Part Time) A. Coy.
25th February 1983. Shot by the IRA outside the engineering plant in Tullyvannon where he worked.
He had just parked his car when gunmen opened fire from close range.
He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

Pte Andy F. Stinson Age 35 (Part Time) HQ. Coy.
4th June 1983. Killed when an INLA booby trap bomb exploded in his digger as he worked on a drainage scheme at Eglish. He was married with 3 children and off duty at the time of his death.

Pte Cyrus Campbell Age 49 (Part Time) A. Coy.
24th October 1983. Shot by the IRA as he drove from his home to feed cattle in a nearby field at Carnteel, gunmen fired at close range hitting him twice. He lived with his 80 year old Mother and had survived an attack on duty in 1972 when one of his colleagues was killed. He was single and of duty at the time of his death.

Pte N. Jimmy Johnston Age 28 (Part Time) C. Coy.
8th May 1984. Shot dead by the IRA, said to be disguised as ambulance men as he arrived for work at Drumglass Hospital. The gunmen held a woman captive overnight as they prepared to use her car. He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

Pte Robert Bennett Age 45 (Part Time) A. Coy.
7th September 1984. Shot by the IRA at the timber yard where he worked in Dungannon, he had just returned to work after lunch with a colleague when up to 6 gunmen opened fire. His colleague Malcolm Cullen died immediately, Robert died in hospital a short time later.
His wife and daughter witnessed the shooting.

Pte Trevor W. Harkness Age 36 (Part Time) C. Coy.
28th February 1985. Killed by a bomb attached to a telegraph pole in Pomeroy, it was detonated by a command wire 50 yards away as a UDR foot patrol passed. 2 of his colleagues were injured. He was married with 5 children and on duty at the time of his death.

Pte Martin A. J. Blaney Age 27 (Part Time) A. Coy.
6th October 1986. Ambushed and shot dead by the IRA as he drove home in Eglish. Hijacked a car and held family for six hours , then forced there way into a neighbour of Martins held a women and her widowed mother. He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

Major George Shaw Age 57 (Part Time). HQ. Coy.
26th January 1987. Shot dead by the IRA outside his home as he was leaving dustbins at his front gate in Dungannon. An off duty UDR soldier who arrived at the scene, fired at the killers as they escaped across fields, he died in his wife’s arms. He was married with 2 children and was off duty at the time of his death.

Pte Willie T. Graham Age 44 (Full Time) HQ. Coy.
25th April 1987. Shot dead by the IRA at his farm in Pomeroy, his wife saw the 2 gunmen and shouted a warning but he did not hear her. He was shot in the back. He was married with 2 children and was off duty at the time of his death.

Captain Tim D Armstrong Aged 29. HQ Company (Full Time)
16th January 1988. Shot dead as he walked home with his Fiancée. Sources claimed he was shot
by UDA gunmen who thought he was a Catholic. The UDA said the claim was “Rubbish”. Tim had previous service with the Royal Irish Rangers, and had served in the Falkland Islands in 1983.
He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

Pte John Stewart Age 23 (Part Time) D. Coy.
16th January 1988. Ambushed and shot by the IRA. Three gunmen fired 20 rounds as he left his home in Coalisland, on the 15th January, he died of his injuries the following day. He was found by his father and was driven to hospital in Belfast by a doctor who was passing by at the time. He was single and off duty at the time of his death.

Pte Ned Gibson Age 23 (Part Time) C. Coy.
26th April 1988. Shot by the IRA as he collected dustbins in Ardboe. 2 gunmen fired and continued to fire as he lay on the ground. He only new that morning, that he would be working in that area. He was married with 1 child and off duty at the time of his death.

Pte Raymond A. McNicol Age 30 (Part Time) C. Coy.
3rd August 1988. Shot by the IRA as he drove to the engineering firm in Desertcreat where he worked.
He was hit in the head and chest but managed to fire 8 rounds back at the gunmen.
(21 rounds were fired at him). He died one and a half hours later in hospital. He was married with 1 child and off duty at the time of the attack.

Pte John Hardy Age 48 (Part Time) D. Coy.
14th March 1989. Shot by the IRA as he drove his lorry into an abattoir loading bay in Granville. 2 gunmen fired at close range and John died a short time later in hospital. He was married with 2 children and off duty at the time of his death.

WO2 Albert D Cooper Age 42 (Part Time ) C. Coy.
2nd November 1990. Killed at his garage in Cookstown .A women left her car at the garage for Albert to work on. The device exploded when he put the car into gear so he could drive it into his workshop. The woman was part of the IRA plot to kill him. He was married with 3 children and off duty at the time of his death.