50: Remembrance

From the DW:

“Northern Ireland: Veterans mark 50th anniversary of 'Troubles' deployment”

Former soldiers have marched to remember the British military's 38-year operation in the once-troubled province. Hundreds of troops were killed trying to maintain order in one of the army's darkest chapters. Hundreds of British ex-military personnel on Saturday took part in the 50th anniversary commemoration of the British army's deployment to Northern Ireland. A parade, which included former members of the elite airborne Parachute Regiment and the Royal Engineers, took place in the city of Lisburn, southwest of Belfast. Organizers said the focus of the parade was to remember the 722 soldiers who lost their lives during what became the British military's longest ever deployment. Northern Ireland's former first minister Arlene Foster and widows of the bereaved were among those in attendance.

Security stepped up

Saturday's march was held under tight security amid continuing bitterness over the British army's role in the so-called Troubles in Northern Ireland, three decades of sectarian unrest between Catholics and Protestants. Soldiers were first deployed to the British territory in August 1969 under Operation Banner. Initially dispatched for a short time to maintain order following the break-out of riots in the cities of Londonderry, Newry and Belfast, the army's numbers quickly swelled.  By 2007 when the last troops were pulled out, some 300,000 British soldiers had served in the province. Their role, to assert the authority of the British government, was initially welcomed by both sides. But the army quickly became embroiled in some of the darkest hours of the Troubles, and their presence fueled the rise of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). The IRA, which sought the reunification of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the south, waged a guerilla campaign against British rule. IRA terrorists staged attacks in Ulster, the British mainland, and even against British army installations in the then West Germany.

Favoritism set back peace hopes

The British army was widely seen as biased towards Catholics, and clashes between soldiers and Catholic residents were commonplace. The British army and local police were eventually blamed for about 10% of all the 3,532 deaths during the Troubles, which ended with the signing of 1998 Good Friday Agreement. However, fierce debate continues over whether British soldiers should be prosecuted for alleged crimes committed during the conflict. One significant incident, known as Bloody Sunday, saw British soldiers open fire on a Catholic civil rights march in Londonderry, killing or wounding 29 unarmed civilians. After a long campaign for justice by the families, prosecutors earlier this year announced that one soldier will stand trial for murder in September over the massacre. The decision infuriated supporters of Britain's military intervention, who insist republican paramilitaries were responsible for the overwhelming majority of killings during the Troubles. Some British MPs have called for an amnesty for soldiers who served in Northern Ireland, in the same way 500 republican and loyalist paramilitaries were released from prison early when the conflict ended.

^ Most of the British media I have seen only want to remember the 50th Anniversary of the start of Operation Banner and the 37 years it lasted in a positive light for the British Military and the British Government – even when the reality is much different. I agree that it is fitting for the British Government to remember and honor the soldiers that died during Operation Banner, but it is also fitting for the British Government (and the British Military) to acknowledge its dark past with regards to Banner. Not only did the some British soldiers murder and wound innocent civilians, but the decades-old cover-up by both the British Military and the British Government (where they blamed the innocent victims for their own deaths) helped turn what should have been a neutral peacekeeping force between the Catholics and the Protestants into an us vs them force. The “us” side being the British Government in London, the British Military, the Northern Irish Protestants, the RUC against the Northern Irish Catholics. Had the British Military remained a truly neutral peacekeeping force in Northern Ireland and the British Government in London given basic equal rights to the Catholics in Northern Ireland – the way the Protestants in Northern Ireland, the English, the Scots and the Welsh already had – then the death and violence of the 30 year Troubles would most likely have been avoided or at least much lessened. Even today (9 years since the British Prime Minister officially acknowledged and apologized for the role of the British Military murdering innocent Catholics and the British Government covering the massacres for decades) little to nothing is being done to bring the guilty soldiers and government officials to justice. Many continue to keep their medals they “earned” by killing and wounding innocent and unarmed civilians. If the British do not bring those guilty to justice then they continue the decades-long cover-up and aren’t really sorry for what they did. Not all soldiers in the British Military are guilty of any crimes like murder, but by not bringing the few that are to justice it taints the whole institution. ^

https://www.dw.com/en/northern-ireland-veterans-mark-50th-anniversary-of-troubles-deployment/a-50064333