Major Mike’s memories of ‘The Troubles’

What he had not counted on was being asked to keep the peace in his own back yard - on British home soil in Northern Ireland.

The deployment in the province, codenamed Operation Banner, became one of the British Army's longest ever operations. In all, 763 soldiers died during 38 years of strife, riots, petrol bombs and sniper attacks.

Back in April 1969, however, that was all in the future. As a young corporal it was quite a surprise to find himself being deployed to the province, admits Major Sullivan, who is now the curator of the Regimental Museum of the Prince Of Wales's Own regiment in York's Tower Street.

Corporal Sullivan - as he was then - had been in Colchester with the 1st Battalion Prince Of Wales Own Regiment which recruited from York, Bradford, Leeds and Hull.

At first, the deployment to Northern Ireland was intended simply to guard key installations in the province, he says. "There was a threat to installations in the province from the civil rights movement who were stirring up a lot of unrest in order to highlight a problem; and there was a problem."

For the first three months, he could not sense much of a threat.

County Down was like a home from home and there was beautiful scenery, glorious beaches to train on and plenty of local dances attended by girls who were often pleased to see British soldiers.

"It was really bizarre, it was all a bit of a phoney war at that time," he said.

"Later we moved further north to County Antrim and by that stage the communist Republican movement had been hijacked by the IRA who saw an opportunity to stir trouble. The pot had been kept bubbling by them for many years and they saw the opportunity to put their coals forward."

As the violence escalated, they moved closer to Londonderry and on August 13, Prime Minister James Callaghan called a Cabinet meeting, where Home Secretary Roy Mason decided to deploy troops onto the streets of the province.

"Only the night before we were sat on one side of the river watching Londonderry burning," Major Sullivan says.

"We then realised the seriousness of the situation."

There was little fear at first, he remembers.

When the troops moved in, on August 14, 1969, they stood on the streets holding the same banners they had used during the war in Aden two years earlier.

"They said don't cross this line' in Arabic," he said.

"It was the typical British Army method of using tactics from the previous war."

Both the loyalists and republicans seemed to welcome the troops and brought out cups of tea as they stood on the street.

"The loyalists saw us as on their side and the Catholics saw us as an unbiased organisation," he said.

"They saw there was this unbiased organisation coming in to separate two communities and keep the peace. They welcomed us just as much as the other side, and if you have a difficult job to do it can be made a lot easier by people being nice and not throwing grenades at you."

The hospitable atmosphere was not to last for long, however.

Shortly after the Bloody Sunday Riots, in 1972, Corporal Sullivan was posted to Belfast and found Northern Ireland to be a changed place.

First came the riots, then the stones, followed by the bricks, the petrol bombs and eventually, the sniping.

"It got worse and worse," he said.

"Having been away from Northern Ireland and left it in relative peace, we came back to complete chaos following Bloody Sunday. Things had escalated and moved on."

Watching your colleagues being badly injured and killed brings you back to earth very quickly, he said.

There were no cups of tea this time. Soldiers were burned by petrol bombs, hurt in riots or shot at by snipers.

"There would be riots every night and you had bricks and bottles raining down on you," he said. "I never did feel frightened, but the adrenalin kept the fright away,"

By now, the IRA had stirred up the Catholic minority to believe the Army was just a tool of the British Government, which was appeasing the loyalist majority, he said.

They thought the Army was not tough enough on the Catholics, and they were reacting.

"They were saying we've got muscles as well. This is our country and we have a right to live here and we're going to riot as well'."

The horrific things he saw, such as children being killed or injured in car bomb attacks, will never leave him. But, he says, it was part of his job.

"One joins the Army in order to soldier. You don't wish for conflicts but at the same time that's what you join for.

"It seems very macho, but it's a lot more sensitive than that. It's doing the job that you joined to do in a professional way."

Mr Sullivan returned to Northern Ireland many times throughout the 70s and 80s.

Politically, there were a few false dawns, and as the first generations of loyalists and republicans began to lose momentum new blood would take over with renewed vigour.

The Army's role was to keep the peace so the politicians could thrash out a solution, he said. And they did that, with professionalism, for 38 years.

"Bloody Sunday won't go down as being the most glorious period in the Army's history, but over a period of 38 years, if you get the whole thing into perspective, it was an extreme example of the way the army conducted themselves in that time," he said.

"It's been a great training ground for young soldiers and that has allowed us to put things in operations elsewhere, like the Falklands and Iraq and Afghanistan. That, linked with the hearts and minds community spirit, has stood us in tremendous stead when it came to Army operations in other threats. Also, it's allowed us to operate with a much softer touch in my opinion than other armies do."

The Troubles were a very different battle to those in Iraq and Afghanistan, he says. The policies are different, and although the troops in Northern Ireland were fighting a number of highly trained republican and loyalist gunmen, they weren't present in anything like the numbers they are in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thirty-eight years keeping British troops on the streets of Northern Ireland has meant there weren't always the numbers needed for conflicts around the world.

But Major Sullivan is adamant the Government was right to keep them there.

"It's taken them 38 years to achieve a solution and that's really, really saddened me - that people can't just compromise and give way on issues in order to achieve a peaceful solution."

"But I think that the politicians had to achieve a compromise that was acceptable for both sides. We couldn't pull out until that happened."

End of 38 years of conflict in Northern Ireland

A TOTAL of 763 British Army soldiers died during the 38 years of The Troubles. During that time, the Army was also accused by Republicans of murdering civilians.

Here are some of the key dates over the 38 years of conflict.

1969: In August troops - including the 1st Battalion the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment and one Corporal Mike Sullivan - were brought in after police were faced with inter-community rioting in Londonderry and west Belfast following the Loyalist marching season.

A broad swathe of Catholic opinion, including the church and the old Nationalist party accepted the presence of the Army as necessary for restoration of law and order.

1970: The first serious clashes involved troops in riots in Ballymurphy, west Belfast.

General Officer Commanding Sir Ian Freeland warned soldiers would shoot to kill at anyone holding petrol bombs or guns.

1971: In February. the IRA shot and killed the first soldier and Major James Chichester resigned as Northern Ireland Prime Minister after Edward Heath refused his request for more troops.

A total of 44 soldiers and five locally-recruited Ulster Defence Regiment members died. The Army killed 45.

1972: Paratroopers, deployed at the request of the Stormont government in Belfast, shot 13 men dead during a march for civil rights in Londonderry.

The event became known as Bloody Sunday, galvanised IRA recruitment, and was condemned around the world.

1976: The Government announced the deployment of extra troops after ten Protestant workers were killed by the IRA at Kingsmill, County Armagh.

1979: In August, an IRA landmine and shooting ambush at Narrow Water, Warrenpoint, County Down, killed 18 soldiers.

The attack came the same day as another in which Second World War legend Lord Mountbatten died in a boat off the coast of County Sligo, targeted by the IRA.

1982: A republican splinter group, the Irish National Liberation Army, killed 17 people at the Droppin Well pub, Ballykelly, Co Londonderry. The dead included 11 soldiers based in the garrison town.

1987: The SAS ambushed and killed eight IRA men as they attempted to blow up a part-time police station at Loughgall, County Armagh.

1988: The SAS killed three IRA members in Gibraltar in March and were criticised because those they shot were unarmed.

1989: Senior Metropolitan Police Commander Sir John Stevens headed up a probe into collusion between members of the security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalists.

1996: In October, two IRA bombs exploded inside the Army's headquarters in Lisburn, Co Down, killing one soldier.

1997: Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick, 23, was killed while manning a checkpoint at Bessbrook, South Armagh, in February. He was the last soldier to die in the conflict.

2003: In April, Sir John Stevens submitted his report finding that members of the Army and police colluded with the Ulster Defence Association.

2005: In August, former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain announced a two-year demilitarisation programme following the IRA's decision to stand down.

2007: In July, the Army's last South Armagh stronghold, at Bessbrook, was closed and Army chiefs confirmed Operation Banner would end on July 31.