NI Soldiers In Iraq Withdrawal

NI troops are to figure in the Army's high profile pull-out from Iraq this week.

Soldiers from the 1st battalion the Royal Irish Regiment (pictured here on parade in Belfast) formed part of 16 Air Assault Brigade during the initial invasion of 2003. They were among British troops pulling out of Iraq are the Queen's Royal Hussars (QRH) - a third of which are from Northern Ireland.

The tank regiment was based at three locations across the south of the country and had the task of preparing the Iraqi Army to take responsibility for its own people.

QRH units, part of 20th Armoured Brigade, were in the main military base at Basra air station, Thar Allah, an outpost in Basra city centre and at Umm Qsar, the country's biggest and most important port.

Since the start of the conflict six years ago soldiers from Northern Ireland have been at the forefront of the action.

Members of the Irish Guards were also involved in the invasion in 2003.

The battalion was split up with companies, platoons and sections attached to 7th Armoured Brigade nick-named The Desert Rats.

In 2005, the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards was the first unit to be officially awarded battle honours for service in Iraq.

In Op Telic 9 in 2006, soldiers from the 38 Engineer Regiment, based at Massereene Barracks in Antrim, were responsible for demolishing Basra's corrupt Special Crimes Unit.

The operation, carried out on Christmas morning, was thought to have been a major turning point in the campaign to win over Basra as the 'rogue police station' had become a symbol of oppression and corruption for the city.

Other Northern Ireland-based regiments to have served on operations in Iraq include 40 Regiment Royal Artillery, based at Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn and soldiers from the recently formed 2nd and 3rd Battalion The Mercians.

Many of the Ulster Territorial Army units have sent personnel to the Gulf.

However, the welcome pull-out, is tinged with great sadness as the human cost of the bloody campaign is counted.

Part of the official withdrawal service in Basra this week included the names of all 179 British servicemen killed in the conflict being read out.

Included in these was Squadron Leader Marshall, 39, who was a passenger on a doomed flight which claimed his life on January 30, 2005, the day of the first democratic elections in Iraq.

Patrick Marshall was killed along with nine others when a special forces RAF Hercules transport plane crashed 20 miles north-west of Baghdad in what was Britain's single biggest loss of life during the conflict.

Speaking to the Belfast News Letter, the dead officer's dad, east Belfast retired RAF wing commander Shaun Marshall said that, despite his loss and that of other families, he believed the decision to remove Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had been right.

See: UK Troops Honoured As Combat Operations End In Iraq

(BMcC/JM)