The shadows of the evening were stretched out as Scots Guardsman Paul Nicholls, aged 18, was buried with military honours at his native village of Halkirk, Caithness, on 1st December 1971. The local parish church could not contain all who attended the funeral service. It is sad to relate that our neighbour was shot in the back by an I.R.A. gunman as he patrolled a street in Belfast the previous Saturday. The Rev. Keith Crozer, Paul’s padre flew from Ireland as also did his company commander, Major Anthony Leask, Sgt Dickson his section commander and Guardsman George Anderson a close friend. Ten Guardsmen arrived by air from Edinburgh. They were dressed in greatcoats and bearskins and smartly bore the coffin to the hearse. It was a sad day and there is a feeling of marked repugnance in this small community. Technically we are not at war in Ireland but practically we are and
we have been sadly reminded of this.
It is very clear that those who have committed so many murders in cold blood in Northern Ireland are being sheltered. There is ample proof of this. Only recently I.R.A. men who escaped from prison were helped over the border into the Irish Republic. The only two who were recaptured were dressed as priests when caught. The others who found their way to the Irish Republic, openly and publicly gave a Press Conference and not one of them was arrested. It is obvious that there is organised thinking behind this massacre of innocent lives and destruction of property. The aim is to bring the Ulster government down.
While Mr Jack Lynch, Prime Minister of the Irish Republic and the Roman Catholic Church condone violence the lot of the British soldier in Ulster is not to be envied.
D.A. Maclean.