I have now served in Her Majesty's Prison Service for over 28 years and I have experienced good and bad times. However the comradeship I experienced in my time with the RMP was on a different level and some of the memories will never be forgotten. I have attached a newly found photograph of my time at 176 Pro Coy in 1982. Our section is about to depart Clooney Base for one of our border checkpoints I am standing up in back riding shotgun and Dave Dowling who is front right. Regrettably I cannot remember the names of others.

In the background I noticed that our armoured Ford Cortina patrol car is parked up. The car reminded me of a traumatic night in December 1982 when the Droppin Well disco was bombed in Ballykelly. For two years we worked 24 hours on followed by 48 hours off. The company was split into 3 three platoons and we all rotated through our commitment to the three permanent border checkpoints we controlled on the outskirts of Londonderry. Although most of our operational time was spent at the checkpoints we had an additional commitment to provide a mobile patrol of the married quarters every night in the area including Ballykelly.

On the night that the Droppin Well Disco was bombed I was part of the patrol on duty tasked with covering the married quarters. We were immediately tasked to Ballykelly to assist. It was dark and wet when we arrived to a scene of devestation. The emergency services were already in attendance and the place was a hive of activity with casualties being recovered from the building which had been severely damaged and had partly collapsed. The RUC and soldiers from the Cheshire regiment had already established a cordon. Casualties were already being transferred into ambulances and sent to hospital. My patrol was then redeployed to Altnegelvin Hospital in Londonderry to set up a security cordan at the hospital and guard the military casualties. We were also tasked with collating names of the military casualties.

On arrival at Atnegelvin hospital we were met by reinforcements from Clooney base and we got on with the onerous task of collecting information and securing a ward. We were there all night and I have strong memories of having to attend the morgue with one of my colleagues in our attempt to collate as much info as possible. During the night it became apparent that six of our girls from 176 Pro Coy had been at the disco and had been wounded. I have strong memories of chatting to them on the ward and noticing the smell of their burnt hair. We provided as much reassurance as we could to the casualties

Eleven soldiers and I think five civilians were killed in this incident. Scores were wounded including our six girls. Thankfully they all made good recoveries. However I must admit it was a night duty that I will never forget.

Whilst at 176 Pro Coy in 1982.

One afternoon in the summer of 1982 I was on duty at Muff PVCP on the outskirts of Londonderry. The checkpoint was manned with a section of RMP, a section of UDR soldiers and 2 RUC officers. We were about 6 or 7 hours into our 24 hour tour of duty at the checkpoint . We had settled into the normal monotonous routine of people and vehicle checks and either being on or off stag.

I was off stag sitting in the rest room with Martin Brundall and one of the UDR lads. We were relaxing and just passing the time away chatting to each other. Our conversation was interrupted by a distant bang. We looked at each other quizzically. What was that ? A couple of seconds later we heard what was at the time the unmistakable noise of two rifle rounds being fired from a self loading rifle {SLR} inside the checkpoint.

Holy shit, CONTACT !

I grabbed my own SLR which was never more than a foot away and followed by Martin and the UDR lad, we all hastily made our way to the exit of the rest room knocking over furniture and anything in our way. As we got to the door and went to push through it failed to open. I stepped back and gave the door an almighty kick which nearly took it off its hinges. We exited the rest room to the loud noise of the checkpoint general alarm sounding.

Heart pounding I raced with the others to our designated stand-to defensive positions. It was as if someone had poked a stick into a hornets nest. The checkpoint was a hive of activity. The two RUC officers jumped into their land rover and sped off in what they thought was the direction of the contact. All other traffic was stopped and you could see the confused and worried look on the faces of the occupants of the vehicles. My mate Chris Banford was manning the top sanger which overlooked the whole checkpoint. He had fired the two rounds. He shouted down to our Sergeant the direction of the contact which was confirmed by Claribell. (Claribell was a device in the sanger which would indicate the direction of any incoming rounds)

After we had deployed to our defensive positions I could see the occupants of a couple of cottages further down the road from the checkpoint coming out into their gardens to see what all the fuss was about. Fortunately someone turned the checkpoint general alarm off as we were already on enough of an adrenaline rush. We scanned the surrounding areas waiting for further contacts. Nothing happened.

Shortly afterwards the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) of the local resident Infantry Battalion (Royal Anglians) arrived and it was decided to sweep the area of the incoming round. The QRF swept the woods on one side of the field. A mixture of RMP, UDR and the two RUC officers who had since rejoined us after speeding off in the wrong direction swept the woods on the other side of the field to the Royal Anglians.

As we moved through the woods one of the UDR lads tripped over a branch and had a Negligent Discharge (ND) with his rifle. He very nearly shot the RUC officer in front of him. We all dived for cover as did the QRF on the other side of the field. It was quickly communicated to the QRF that this was not a further contact.

The sweep was completed without any further drama and the normal routine was finally restored to the checkpoint. Enquiries later revealed that one of the local farmers had been out with his shotgun and had failed to notify the checkpoint.

Off duty in the mess the next day we all talked about the incident, it was all very jovial. However it was a sobering thought when we realised how close we were to having a blue on blue contact with the QRF, after the UDR lad had had his ND.

Steve Davies.