Welcome to Palace Barracks Memorial Garden,
these memorials stones are dedicated to some of those who have given
the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the Armed Forces.

The Garden in Palace Barracks remembers some of those who have lost their lives in
Northern Ireland, The Falkland Islands and the United Kingdom,
  the Memorial Custodian is also responsible
for the Memorial Garden at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn, Co. Antrim.

Northern Ireland

Falklands Islands

Felix Memorial Garden

Private R V Jones. Aged 21. Shot by a sniper in West Belfast. 
18th Aug 1971:

Private R Rowe. Aged 21. Shot by accident when mistaken for a terrorist gunman, in Ardoyne, North Belfast. From Bodwin, Cornwall.
28th Aug 1972:

Private T A Stoker.
19th Sept 1972:

Private T Rudman.  Aged 20. Shot while on duty in Ardoyne, North Belfast. 
A year earlier his brother had also been murdered in Ulster. From West Hartlepool, Co. Durham. 
30th Sept 1972:

Private S R Hall. Aged 27. Shot while on patrol in Crossmaglen. From Bristol.
28th Oct 1973:

Private G M Curtis. Aged 20. Killed by a bomb in a lamppost in the Ballymurphy area.
From Grimsby, Lincolnshire.
10th Jun 1983:

Private N I Blythe.
12th Nov 1987:

Private J J Willby.
6th Feb 1988:

Private B Bishop. Aged 19. One of the 8 soldiers killed in a landmine attack at Curr near Ballygawley
roundabout, County Tyrone, while travelling back by coach to his base in Omagh from the International Airport at Aldergrove. He had been on home leave with his family and was returning to his duties.  
From Hereford.
20th Aug 1988:

Private P L Bullock. Aged 19. One of the 8 soldiers killed in a landmine attack at Curr near Ballygawley
roundabout, County Tyrone, while travelling back by coach to his base in Omagh from the International Airport at Aldergrove. He had been on home leave with his family and was returning to his duties. 
From Hereford.
20th Aug 1988:

Private J Burfitt. Aged 19. One of the 8 soldiers killed in a landmine attack at Curr near Ballygawley
roundabout, County Tyrone, while travelling back by coach to his base in Omagh from the International Airport at Aldergrove. He had been on home leave with his family and was returning to his duties.
20th Aug 1988:

Private R Greener. Aged 21. One of the 8 soldiers killed in a landmine attack at Curr near Ballygawley
roundabout, County Tyrone, while travelling back by coach to his base in Omagh from the International Airport at Aldergrove. He had been on home leave with his family and was returning to his duties.
From Tyne and Wear.
20th Aug 1988:

Private A S Lewis. Aged 18. One of the 8 soldiers killed in a landmine attack at Curr near Ballygawley
roundabout, County Tyrone, while travelling back by coach to his base in Omagh from the International Airport at Aldergrove. He had been on home leave with his family and was returning to his duties.
From Salisbury.
20th Aug 1988:

Private M  A Norworthy Aged 18. One of the 8 soldiers killed in a landmine attack at Curr near Ballygawley
roundabout, County Tyrone, while travelling back by coach to his base in Omagh from the International Airport at Aldergrove. He had been on home leave with his family and was returning to his duties.
From Plymouth, Devon.
20th Aug 1988:

Private S J Wilkinson. Aged 18. One of the 8 soldiers killed in a landmine attack at Curr near Ballygawley
roundabout, County Tyrone, while travelling back by coach to his base in Omagh from the International Airport at Aldergrove. He had been on home leave with his family and was returning to his duties.
From Stanley, Co. Durham.
20th Aug 1988:

Private J Winter. Aged 19. One of the 8 soldiers killed in a landmine attack at Curr near Ballygawley
roundabout, County Tyrone, while travelling back by coach to his base in Omagh from the International Airport at Aldergrove. He had been on home leave with his family and was returning to his duties.
From Taunton, Somerset.
20th Aug 1988:

Private G Smith.
3rd Dec 1988:

Private A J Richardson.
12th March 1997: Private Andrew J Richardson aged 20. killed in an incident while on patrol duty in an armoured vehicle in Belfast. 
He had just returned to his base having spent 2 weeks on home leave with his family and friends in South Shields; 12 march 1997

James Kirby (Ex 2nd BN The Light Infantry) remembers his friend
Pte Richardson was a friend of mine through basic Infantry training and then on through our Army career until his fateful death in 1997.
You can contact James Kirby ... click ---> here <---

Private J R Rudman. Aged 21. Shot while travelling to Coalisland. 
A year later his brother was also murdered in Ulster. From West Hartlepool, Co. Durham.
15th Sept 1971:

Sergeant A B Whitelock. Aged 24. Shot by a sniper while on patrol in Londonderry.
It was his third tour of Ulster. From Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.
24th Aug 1972:

Corporal T P Taylor. Aged 26. Killed by a bomb in a derelict factory in Donegall Road. From Sunderland.
13th May 1973:

Private J Gaskell. Aged 22.
Fatally wounded by a bomb in a derelict factory the previous day. From Thornley, Co. Durham.
14th May 1973:

[ Private J Gaskell. ]

Pte John Gaskell

Private R B Roberts. Aged 25. Shot by a sniper in the Ballymurphy estate.
It was the day of his 25th birthday.
Ten days later his wife went into labour and both babies died.
1st July 1973:

Private Ronald Stafford.
Was killed in a tragic car accident on 20 July 1979

Private P Turner. Aged 18. Shot by a sniper in Crossmaglen. From Herefordshire.

Private P K Eastaugh.
23rd March 1971:

Lance Corporal A Kennington. Aged 20. Shot while on 'lollipop patrol'. 
At lunchtime the schools in Ardoyne were patrolled to protect the school-kids from sectarian clashes. 
As the children came out of school the gunmen opened fire. From Lydeard, Somerset.
28th Feb 1973:

Lance Corporal C R Miller. Aged 21. Fatally wounded 25th August while on observation duty in West Belfast. From Co. Durham.
18th Sept 1973:

Private R D Turnbull. Aged 18. Killed in an ambush in West Belfast. From Gosborough, Yorkshire.
29th June 1977:

Private M E Harrison. Aged 19. Killed in an ambush in West Belfast. From Sheffield.
29th June 1977:

Private L J Harrison. Aged 20. Killed by a sniper while guarding a bomb disposal team at an RUC station. From Streethouse, Wakefield, W.Yorks.
9th Aug 1977:

Corporal D P Salthouse. Aged 23. Killed while off duty by a bomb in the Droppin' Well pub, in Ballykelly.
11 soldiers and 6 civilians were murdered.
6th Dec 1982:

Corporal I R Morrilli. (Royal Green Jackets) Aged 29. Royal Green Jackets was attached to the Light Infantry when he was shot by a sniper while on foot patrol in the Beechmount Avenue area of Belfast.
28th Aug 1972:

Steven Restorick died of his wounds on 12 February, 1997, following his shooting at a PVCP at Bessbrook Mill and he is accorded the tragic status of being the last British Soldier to die on active service in Northern Ireland as a consequence of the troubles. However, four weeks later, Private A.J. Richardson of 3 Light Infantry, was killed in Belfast, having only just returned from leave spent in his home town of South Shields, was killed in an “incident” [author’s inverted commas]

The following is an account of Pte Richardson’s Death.

In brief, I believe to my knowledge that Pte Richardson died in Northern Ireland due to a planned attack, also called "come on" by the IRA. Two of the armoured land rovers were on patrol when I was informed that an IRA member was waiting in an alleyway with an RPG ready to take out the rear APC (in which Pte Richardson was formally carrying out top cover). As the two vehicles drove on their route, a civilian car pulled out between the patrol cars and deliberately slowed down, causing the rear APC to also slow; this was a planned manoeuvre to aid the IRA to deliver his RPG on the intended target.

The driver of the land rover knew this was a "come on" and decided to try to drive out of danger and tried to overtake the civilian vehicle; as it did so, the car then speeded up and would not let the APC back in. As a result, the armoured land rover then had no choice but to hit a central reservation on a roundabout causing it to flip over several times with Pte Richardson still on top cover along side his comrade. He was crushed to death and his top cover partner flung out hitting a lamp post square on.

The above info is to the best of my knowledge and I hope this will help you to decide if it was an accident. I feel this is what happened and see his death as a murder.

The death of Private Richardson occurred a full month after the murder of Lance-Bombardier Restorick and was clearly – viewed either objectively and subjectively – as a consequence of active service and was caused by the IRA. Why then do only the Light Infantry Reunited and NIVETS list this soldier on
their roll of honour and no other agency or institution include him on their respective Rolls of Honour ?

Regards

Geoff Smith

Site Co-Ordinator
Light Infantry Reunited
mailto:admin@lightinfantryreunited.co.uk

Webmaster's note: ... Thanks to Geoff Smith for making us aware of the above account of Pte Richardson’s Death

"May they rest in peace"