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| Private Kenneth Cross, 1st Battalion The Queens Lancashire Regiment Winning the Military Medal Belfast 1973 by David Rowlands. (GS)
In 1973 the 1st Battalion of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment was on its third emergency tour of duty in Northern Ireland. West Belfast was covered in the squalid signs of violence. The boarded-up and bombed-out shells of houses, the burned-out cars, the hate-inspired graffiti and the rusting barbed wire. Evidence of the battalion would be seen in prowling armoured personnel carriers with swinging gun turrets, alert foot patrols moving from cover to cover, road blocks and barriers, and, within 200 yards of the city centre, Battalion Headquarters in Hastings Street, with its sandbagged and camouflaged sentry posts, and tall wire-netted anti-rocket screens. Private Ken Cross and Sergeant Judd, of A Company, were in an Observation Post (OP) in the upstairs bedroom of a derelict terraced house near Leeson Street. Privates Jackson and Noad were also in the house. Suddenly, a blast bomb went off in the back yard, followed by high velocity fire from at least three different directions. The ensuing gun battle lasted about fifteen minutes, and more than fifty rounds were returned at the gunmen, wounding one of them. Ken Cross and Peter Noad explained the details to me. They were unshaven, it being their second day in the OP. In the upper room, Ken was at the aperture of the blocked-up window with his L 42 Sniper rifle. A grey blanket (covering broken glass) and four large packs were on the floor, along with a camera fitted with a telephoto lens. Two of their sleeping bags were laid out ready for use. Sgt Judd, holding his SLR (he was left-handed) was operating his Pocketphone Radio. |