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Foreword
By the Colonel Commandant of the Scottish Division
I am delighted to welcome you all here to Palace Barracks on this very special occasion.
We have gathered here to witness the dedication of a new memorial to our Scottish Infantry comrades
who have lost their lives while on active service in Northern Ireland. Too many of Scotland's sons have
been killed or have died here but the cause for which they served is and was a noble one.
To stand resolutely and openly against terrorism is not perhaps the most glamorous of military tasks but
it is certainly one that more than fully tests the courage and soldierly skills of everyone from private
soldier to commanding officer.
We are here today to pay tribute especially to the fallen in whose particular memory and honour the
Scottish Division Memorial has been created. But it is also fitting to keep in our thoughts all the very
many Scottish Infantry officers and soldiers who have served so well and under such difficult circumstances
in Northern Ireland since 1969. I hope you will agree that the small piece of Scotland now within the Palace Barracks Memorial Garden, with its very fine memorial stone, is a fitting mark of the respect and admiration that we all have for those of our comrades who came to Northern Ireland to do their duty and who, unlike
the rest of us, could not return home. I hope that after today's ceremony it will become a focus for any
family member or regimental comrade who want to come to Northern Ireland to remember.
I would like to take this opportunity to say a very special and public thank you to the Memorial Custodian, who has been the inspiration behind this event. He created the Memorial Garden and it is because of his continuing hard work and dedicated enthusiasm that it is in such excellent order and that we now have our new Scottish Division plot in such a prominent position within it. And I would like to thank also the Commanding Officer and all ranks of the 1st Battalion The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
for making all the arrangements to look after us all so well today. They all represent, along with the Royal Highland Fusiliers in South Armagh, the current generation of Scottish soldiers doing their duty here in Northern Ireland. I am extremely grateful to them for all that they have done to make this day a success despite all the demands made on them by their operational duties.
Finally thank you to all those of you who have come a distance to help make this the special day that our fallen comrades deserve.
Lieutenant General
Sir Alistair Irwin KCB CBE
Colonel Commandant
The Scottish Division
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