The Bloodiest Year 1972 by Ken Wharton

Author:Ken Wharton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780752472980
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2011-10-30T04:00:00+00:00

On 12 June Lance Corporal Martin Rooney (22) a native of the Irish Republic was hit by a single shot fired by an IRA sniper and died within minutes of being wounded. Just hours later on the 13th, whilst still in the same area, the same regiment (Royal Anglians) lost Corporal Kenneth Mogg (29) who was shot in Dunville Park near the junction between Grosvenor Road and the Falls Road. The park sits on a crossroads in close proximity to the two aforementioned roads and also the Springfield Road. On the same day the UFF abducted and killed a UDR soldier Private Henry Russell (22) simply on the grounds that he was a Catholic. His body was found in the Sydenham area of north-east Belfast; he had been stabbed, beaten and burned with cigarettes. More soldiers were to be killed over the next 36 hours and in this orgy of bloodletting, a Catholic father of four was caught in crossfire when the Army returned fire at Glenview Street in north Belfast; with all the ongoing violence, his death passed almost unnoticed. The toll of dead RRW soldiers continued when Private David Meeke (24) was shot by an IRA sniper on Hooker Street in the Ardoyne as he was about to enter his unit position.

The month wasn’t half way through and, since the breakdown of the ceasefire, in Belfast alone thousands of rounds had been fired and 37 people were dead. On the same day that David Meeke was killed, the IRA killed another Protestant at random, this time at Glengormley in the north of the city; Belfast was starting to resemble a battleground.

On the night of 13/14 July in the area of west Belfast alone, in some of the most intense activity witnessed at any stage of the Troubles, almost 6,000 rounds were expended. Second Lieutenant Robert Williams-Wynn (24) from Shropshire was commanding an armoured vehicle in the Lenadoon area of west Belfast when he was shot and killed by an IRA sniper. Shortly afterwards, Fusilier Kenneth Cranham (24) from England’s north-east,was shot and killed, very close to where the cavalry officer was hit.

The scene then switched to north Belfast; there was fierce fighting in the Ardoyne area. Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) soldier Peter Heppenstall, described as ‘big, tall lad with blond hair’ by his RRW comrades to whom he was attached, was shot and killed on foot patrol on Alliance Avenue. Very close by, the RRW shot and killed James Reid (26) in Eskdale Gardens. Reid was an IRA gunman and a well known ‘player’ in the area. Tragically, in the crossfire an innocent civilian – Terence Toolan (36) a father of six – was hit and killed by the patrol. He had only left his house in order to check on an elderly relative who lived close by.

Then, in the same street where Meeke had been killed, just hours later, the IRA killed John Williams. Private Williams (22) a Cardigan boy, was the fifth RRW soldier killed in the space of just eight weeks.

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