Ulster Defence Regiment

Ulster Defence Regiment CGC
File:Cap Badge of the Ulster Defence Regiment.jpg Regimental Badge
Active	1970-1992
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Militia
Role	Internal Security
Size	11 battalions (at peak)
Motto(s)	Quis separabit (Latin Who will separate us)
March	(Quick) Garryowen. (Slow) Oft In The Stilly Night
Commanders
Current commander	None

The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1970 to replace the B Specials in assisting with security duties within Northern Ireland. It was the largest regiment in the British Army, formed with an initial seven battalions and an extra four added later. The regiment consisted almost entirely of part-time volunteers until 1976 when a full time cadre was added. Due to recruiting from the local community at a time of intercommunal strife, it faced accusations of sectarian attitudes and collusion with Loyalist paramilitary organisations through most of its term. Even though intended to be non-partisan, and beginning with up to 18% Catholic recruits, the regiment's image problems with nationalists, including sectarianism amongst some Protestant soldiers, as well as IRA attacks on Catholic UDR soldiers. resulted in the Catholic membership declining, with only 3% being Catholic when it amalgamated in 1992 with the Royal Irish Rangers, forming the Royal Irish Regiment. In 2007 the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross was awarded to the regiment for its service during Operation BANNER, and the regiment is now allowed to use the postnominal letters CGC as part of its name (The Ulster Defence Regiment CGC).

History

The regiment was formed in 1970 after recommendations from the Hunt Report (1969), which suggested replacing the part time B Specials, "seen by many as a Protestant army", with a force that would be "impartial in every sense and remove the responsibility of military style operations from the police force." The first regimental commander was Brigadier Logan Scott-Bowden. The first two soldiers reported as signing up were a 19 year old Catholic and a 47 year old Protestant. Seven battalions were initially raised, making it the largest infantry regiment in the British Army. Two years later, four more battalions were added, taking the total to eleven. Until 1976 the full time cadre consisted only of a conrate (so called because they had a "consolidated rate of pay")whose duties consisted of guarding UDR bases and carrying out administrative tasks. It was then decided to expand the role of the regiment by including a full time operational capability on a 24 hour basis. The first of these was raised at 2 UDR under the command of a sergeant. By the end of the 1970s the full time cadre had been raised to 16 platoons. As these "Operations Platoons" were expanded to company strength, eventually the conrate role was phased out with full time UDR soldiers undertaking their own guard duties and administration. The regiment was reduced to nine battalions in 1984, then to seven in 1991, at which point Tom King, the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced that as part of the restructuring of the armed forces the regiment would merge with the Royal Irish Rangers to form the Royal Irish Regiment. On 1 July 1992 the merger was officially complete. On 1 August 2007 the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, the second highest British military honour, was awarded to the regiment for its service during Operation Banner.

The UDR was presented to the entire community of Northern Ireland as a replacement for the paramilitary police reserve, the Ulster Special Constabulary, known as the B Specials. An almost exclusively Protestant force, regarded as biased against the local catholic community. With the catholic population of Northern Ireland standing at just under a third in 1969 it was hoped that the recruitment figures for the regiment would reflect those numbers. Unlike the Special Constabulary which came under the control of the Stormont administration in Belfast the new regiment would be under the direct command of the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall. Beginning with up to 18% Catholic recruits, the vast majority who were former members of other British Army regiments, this rapidly declined, with only 3% being Catholic when it amalgamated in 1992 with the Royal Irish Rangers. Catholic members left due to intimidation from the IRA, their own community and hard line Protestants. Internment without trial also alienated the vast majority of Catholics. .

To date it is the only unit in the history of the British Army to have been on operational deployment for its entire history, from the moment it was created until it was amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers in 1992. [10]

The regiment was described in 1972 as:

Organised into 11 Battalions and 59 companies: there are two battalions in Belfast and the remainder cover county or sub-county areas. Seven of the 11 Battalions are commanded by Regular Commanding Officers. In addition the Training Majors, Quartermaster, Regimental Sergeant Majors, Chief Clerks, and Signaller NCOs are also Regulars. There are a number of 'Conrate' (full time UDR) posts in each unit, including Adjutants, Permanent Staff Instructors, Security Guards, etc. Many of the officer and senior rank Conrates are ex-Regulars. The remainder are part-timers. Their main tasks are guarding key points, patrolling, and surveillance, and manning Vehicle Check Points. They do not operate in the 'hard' areas of Belfast, and are not permitted to become involved in crowd confrontations anywhere. Men are armed with self-loading rifles or sub-machine guns. The current strength of the Regiment is 7910.

• The UDR Advisory Council

Throughout the existence of the regiment policy was decided in conjunction with a six man committee (three Protestant and three Catholic) chaired by the Colonel Commandant. They were: To advise the G.O.C., Northern Ireland, on general policy for the administration of the Ulster Defence Regiment, in particular on recruitment policy; and on such specific matters as the G.O.C. might refer to the Council.

The Role of the B Specials in the UDR

The regiment was condemned before its formation in the House of Commons in Stormont by Bernadette Devlin whose comments on the UDR White Paper were: "Do you really expect me or any other member or anybody in Northern Ireland to accept one solitary word of the whitewash and eyewash you have produced? Can you give me one concrete statement that it [the UDR] is not the USC under the guise of the British Army?" The Belfast Telegraph disagreed. In editorials several days apart its pages declared: In no sense can the new Regiment be regarded like the old USC, as a vigilante force and a law unto itself. Inevitably the members of the new force will be provided by present B Specials and just as inevitably it is already being smeared in some quarters as simply the old force in new uniform. Every effort must be made to ensure that this is not so. No-one must be able to put a denominational tag on the UDR and if one of the senior officers in the force happened to be a Roman Catholic, so much the better...The establishment of this new force should be regarded as a turning point in the life of the community. Several days later: The civil rights protest was for equal rights for all. With these rights go obligations, and we would appeal to all Catholics who want to demonstrate their full citizenship to respond to Mr Hume's appeal. If they do not they will fall into the trap which will prove to some people that there are responsibilities which Catholics are not prepared to shoulder.

In the event the response from the USC was mixed. Some felt betrayed and resigned immediately, others grasped the new opportunity and made application to join the UDR as soon as forms were available. There was another option open to the men of the USC, to join the newly formed RUC Reserve and many did so, especially in Belfast where it has been noted that the Specials had received more training as and were more akin with policemen, whereas the border districts had operated in a more military fashion. In Belfast, during the first month of recruiting only 36 Specials applied to join the UDR compared to a national average of 29% - 2,424, 1,000 of whom were rejected, mainly on the grounds of age and fitness. Around 75% of the men of the Tyrone Specials did apply and as a result the 6th Battalion started life as the only battalion more or less up to strength and remained so during its history. The border counties in general followed this pattern. It also meant that former USC members had domination of these battalions. The story was different for Belfast, Londonderry, Down and Antrim where the figures were markedly more balanced with a high proportion of Catholic recruits.

By 1st april 1970 only 1,606 of the desired 4,000 men had been enlisted and the regiment began its duties much under strength. Without the former B Specials these figures would have been far worse and it is unlikly that the new force would have ever got off the ground. Unfortunately for the Ulster Defence Regiment what gave it the strength to operate in its infancy would also leave it wide open to criticism for many years.

Duties

The primary function of the regiment was to assist the police by guarding key installations and providing patrols and vehicle checkpoints on public roads to hamper the activities of terrorist groups. The regiment was not permitted to engage in "crowd control" situations. Due to the fear of pitting the predominantly Protestant force against Roman Catholics. Additionally the regiment was forbidden from patrolling "hard-line Catholic" urban areas such as the Bogside in Derry or parts of West Belfast.

As the force was initially predominantly part-time the presence of its members was mostly felt during evenings and weekends. It was expected to answer to general call out and was indeed mobilised on a permanent basis on several occasions such as Operation Motorman to provide manpower assistance to the police or army.

As the regiment evolved into a predominantly full-time unit it assumed more duties previously assigned to the police or army in support of Operation Banner. By 1980 the full-time element had become the majority and the regiment's role had expanded to include tactical responsibility for 85% of Northern Ireland supporting the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Number who served

About 57,000 people served in the UDR and Royal Irish Regiment over their combined history 1970 to 2006 .. This equates to perhaps 30,000 to 35,000 people who enlisted into the UDR over their operational period of 1970 to 1992, although the regimental history gives the number as 40,000.

Members killed

Between 1 April 1970 and 30 June 1992, a total of 197 soldiers were killed as active servicemen. Another 61 members were killed after they had left the UDR. Many UDR soldiers were killed in the line of duty, or because of their association with the regiment.

Two UDR soldiers were killed by the regular army, three by loyalist paramilitaries, and the remaining 192 by republican paramilitaries (mainly the IRA). Four Greenfinches were killed during the Troubles, Private Eva Martin, L/Cpl Jean Leggett, Cpl Heather Kerrigan and Pte Margaret A. Hearst. Three members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) killed during the conflict were also acting soldiers of the regiment.

During this time members of the UDR were responsible for the killing of six civilians and two members of the IRA.

Structure

By March 1970, when deputy Minister of Defence Roy Hattersley answered questions in the House of Commons, there had been 4791 applications to join, of which 946 were from Catholics and 2424 from current or former members of the B-Specials. 2440 had been accepted, including 1423 from current or former B-Specials.

Initially, seven battalions were raised, immediately making it the largest regiment in the British Army. Within two years, a further four battalions were added, taking the total to eleven. To begin with, the regiment consisted entirely of part-time volunteers, before a full time cadre was added in 1976.

The full-time element of the regiment eventually expanded to encompass more than half the total personnel. The UDR was also the first infantry regiment in the British Army to fully integrate women into its structure, when Greenfinches (so-called because of the code-name used to identify them by radio) took over clerical and signals duties, which allowed male members of the regiment to return to patrol duties. Greenfinches also accompanied many patrols so that female suspects could be searched.

Battalions

• 1st (County Antrim) Battalion [1970-1984]
• 1st/9th (County Antrim) Battalion [1984-1992]
• 2nd (County Armagh) Battalion [1970-1991]
• 2nd/11th (Craigavon) Battalion [1991-1992]
• 3rd (County Down) Battalion [1970-1992]
• 4th (County Fermanagh) Battalion [1970-1991]
• 4th/6th (County Fermanagh and County Tyrone) Battalion [1991-1992]
• 5th (County Londonderry) Battalion [1970-1992]
• 6th (County Tyrone) Battalion [1970-1991]
• 7th (City of Belfast) Battalion [1970-1984]
• 7th/10th (City of Belfast) Battalion [1984-1992]
• 8th (County Tyrone) Battalion [1971-1992]
• 9th (Country Antrim) Battalion [1972-1984]
• 10th (City of Belfast) Battalion [1972-1984]
• 11th (Craigavon) Battalion [1972-1991]

Bases and Locations

There were many UDR bases throughout Northern Ireland. Some were Regimental locations, Battalion locations, Company locations or Platoon locations e.g.:

• Headquarters, Lisburn
• Palace Barracks, Holywood, Co. Down
• Malone Road, Belfast
• Ladas Drive, Belfast
• Kitchen Hill Barracks, Lurgan
• Mahon Barracks, Portadown
• St Lucia Barracks, Omagh
• The Deanery, Clogher
• Scarva Road Barracks, Banbridge
• Drumadd Barracks, Armagh (replaced Gough Barracks which was tken over by the RUC)
• Loughall UDR Barracks
• Rathfriland UDR Barracks
• Grosvenor Barracks, Enniskillen
• Dungannon UDR Barracks
• Cookstown UDR Barracks
• Newtownhamilton RUC Station
• Caledon RUC Station
• Glenane Barracks (destroyed in an IRA attack)
• Coleraine
• Ballymena
• The Abbey, Kilkeel
• Steeple Hill, Antrim*
• Magherafelt*
• Ballykelly*
• Ballykinlar*

(source for these last four - Sinn Fein)

Annual Training Camps

Part-time UDR soldiers were required to attend an annual camp for a 7 day period, usually somewhere in theUnited Kingdom e.g.:

• Warcop, Cumbria, England
• Ballykinler, Northern Ireland

Uniform

On operational duty male members of the regiment dressed in a similar fashion to regular army units. Camouflage jackets were worn and headgear was a distinctive green beret with a gold coloured "Maid of Erin" style harp, surmounted by the Royal crown (in later years this was dulled down by blackening). Female "Greenfinch" members wore rifle green skirts and jackets with the UDR beret and cap badge. For ceremonial occasions the men wore the standard British Army No 2 Dress uniform (also called Service Dress). The female "best dress" was exactly the same as their patrol uniform. The beret was retained as headgear.

Weaponry and vehicles

File:South Armagh.JPG

Soldiers of 11 UDR on a patrol break in the hostile South Armagh area. The soldier on the right is carrying a jamming device to prevent the detonation of radio controlled IED's.

A rifle similar to those used by the Ulster Defence Regiment

The Enfield SA80

The most familiar weapon associated with the regiment was the standard issue L1A1 Self Loading Rifle, referred to as the "SLR". Other weaponry was available however such as; the 9 mm Browning pistol, the Sterling sub machine gun, the L4A4 Light Machine Gun and the L7A2 General Purpose Machine Gun. Small stocks of Riot Guns were also kept. These were used to fire plastic bullets to knock down doors and other obstacles during search operations.

The regiment later exchanged its SLRs (as did all infantry units in the army) for the SA80.

For personal protection off duty most members were issued with a Walther PPK but Major Ken Maginnis acquired permission for UDR soldiers to purchase Browning 9mm pistols at £200 each. These were deemed to be more effective. Where a soldier was considered to be at high risk he would be permitted to hold his rifle at home in addition to his personal protection handgun.

The standard patrol vehicle was the 3/4 ton Land Rover used extensively throughout the British armed forces. Following withdrawal from police service a number of Shorland armoured cars were allocated to the regiment but these were rarely used after initial service because the turret was designed to hold a General Purpose Machine Gun which was deemed unsuitable for urban use due to its rapid rate of fire and tendency to be inaccurate. The Shorland was not popular with soldiers who used it due to its instability on the road because of the heavy turret although some battalions continued to use them into the 1980's in border areas because of the increased protection the plate armour gave over the Macrolan fitted to Land Rovers.

3 ton and 4 ton Bedford trucks were used for large troop movements.

A range of unmarked civilian cars and vans was also used for staff, administration and covert activities.

The Ulster Defence Regiment was also deployed by helicopters supplied by either the Royal Air Force or Army Air Corps for rapid insertion or for duties in border areas where it was unsafe or unwise to use wheeled transport.

Information cards

All members of the British Armed Forces, including the UDR, carried a number of small information cards to assist in the execution of their duties in Northern Ireland. These were generally referred to by their colour.

• The Yellow Card was a list of the rules for opening fire.
• The Blue Card was a detailed explanation of how arrests were to be made.
• The White Card was to be given to next of kin or other appropriate person in the event of an arrest of a suspect.
• The Green Card carried instructions on how to deal with accidental cross-border incursion into the Irish Republic and subsequent arrest by Irish security forces.
• The Red Card contained instructions on how to summon helicopter support and the drills for entering and leaving helicopters.

The Yellow Card was seen as particularly important and all soldiers were taught to be entirely familiar with its content as it contained specific instructions to be followed when opening fire on a suspected enemy. Warnings were to be issued to allow suspects to surrender. Soldiers could only without warning when: if there is no other way to protect themselves or those whom it is their duty to protect from the danger of being killed or seriously injured.

Music

Each battalion had a number of pipers and these musicians participated in a centralised pipe band formally called the Pipes & Drums of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Their uniform followed the traditional military dress for Irish pipers, consisting of a saffron kilt, bottle green "Prince Charlie" jacket, bottle green cape and bottle green caubeen adorned with a double size cap badge. Unlike other Irish regiments in the British Army UDR pipers did not wear a hackle.

Attitudes and image

• It was essential that the force be raised as soon as possible to provide a military backup to the RUC who had been disarmed under the recommendations of the Hunt Report. General Anderson and Brigadier Scott-Bowden had three months in which to provide men on the streets of Northern Ireland. In a move which was later condemned by Nationalist politicians, members of the B Specials were offered application forms for the new regiment which, in the opinion of the GOCNI, would provide a nucleus of trained men, but which caused an outcry in Westminster because the operational strength on 1st April 1970 included 50% of former B Specials. Many Specials boycotted the regiment and jeered their former colleagues when they saw them on duty.
• After initial support from the Catholic minority the popular Catholic perception of the UDR changed and was viewed as a reincarnation of the B-Specials. This, plus IRA intimidation and intimidation from Loyalists within the regiment prevented them from joining.
• In a 1970 poll 60% of Catholics were in favour of the UDR whereas a 1980s poll 89% were opposed to any extension of the regiment's role.
• In the mid-1980s the SDLP's Canavan Report said the UDR "has by far the worst record for serious sectarian crimes of any Regiment presently in service with the British Armed Forces in Northern Ireland". The SDLP remained opposed to the regiment and continually called for its disbandment due to the failure of the GOC to address the issue of Catholic recruiting and the regimental image.
• Between 1970 and 1990 seventeen UDR members were convicted of murder or manslaughter, 99 of assault, and "others" (no exact figure) were convicted of charged or convicted of armed robbery, weapons offences, bombing, intimidation and attacks on Catholics, kidnapping, and membership in the UVF.
• Only a small fraction were involved in such crime, but the proportion was higher than for the regular British Army or RUC. Although no other unit in the British Armed Forces was on constant duty in the Province between 1970 and 1992.

Targetting by the IRA

As the IRA campaign continued through the 1970s and 1980s, the organisation increasingly targeted RUC officers and Ulster Defence Regiment servicemen—including when they were off duty. Because these men were largely Protestant and unionist, these killings were also widely portrayed (and perceived in unionist circles) as a campaign of sectarian assassination.. A former IRA member of the East Tyrone Brigade, Vincent McKenna, has claimed that Jim Lynagh's military tactics of creating "sanitised zones"—expelling members of the UDR from their farms to gain territory "a field at a time"—was "sectarian". Former Unionist MP and a major in the UDR, Ken Maginnis, compiled a record of IRA attacks on the UDR and claimed from this that the IRA's campaign was sectarian and genocidal in that the eldest sons and breadwinners were especially targeted in order to ethnically cleanse Protestants from their farms and jobs west of the River Bann.

Despite the fact that most of the IRA's security force victims by the late 1980s were locally recruited RUC or UDR personnel, the Provisional leadership maintained that the British Army was their preferred target. Gerry Adams in an interview given in 1988, said it was, "vastly preferable" to target the British Army as it "removes the worst of the agony from Ireland" and "diffuses the sectarian aspects of the conflict because loyalists do not see it as an attack on their community".

Collusion with paramilitaries

Original Anti-UDR poster

Throughout the UDR's history, allegations were made of members covertly aiding the loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. In 2004 the British Government released documents that showed overlapping membership between British Army units like the UDR and loyalist paramilitary groups was a wider problem than a "few bad apples" as was often claimed. The documents include a classified 1973 report titled "Subversion in the UDR" which detailed the problem: One soldier who was able to identify his description from the document has cast doubt on its accuracy by denying all of the accusations levelled against him publicly. Clifford Davison is emphatic that the British Intelligence services got it wrong.

• an estimated 5-15% of UDR soldiers were directly linked to loyalist paramilitary groups,
• it was believed that the "best single source of weapons, and the only significant source of modern weapons, for Protestant extremist groups was the UDR",
• it was feared UDR troops were loyal to "Ulster" alone rather than to "Her Majesty's Government",
• the British Government knew that UDR weapons were being used by loyalist paramilitaries, including the killing of a Roman Catholic civilian and other attacks.

Despite knowing that the UDR had problems and that over 200 weapons had been passed from British Army hands to loyalist paramilitaries by 1973, the British Government went on to increase the role of the UDR in maintaining order in Northern Ireland. This was part of the wider "Normalisation, Ulsterisation, and Criminalisation" strategy to quell the violence of the IRA.

Two UDR soldiers, who were also members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, were convicted of the 1975 killing of three members of the pop group the Miami Showband in a UVF attack.

In 1989, 28 UDR soldiers were arrested by the Royal Ulster Constabulary as part of the Stevens Inquiry into security force collusion with paramilitaries. Six of those arrested were later awarded damages over their arrests.

In 1999 David Jordan, a former UDR soldier, allegedly broke down in a bar and admitted to being part of a patrol that killed nationalist councillor Patsy Kelly in 1974. Jordan also implicated former Democratic Unionist Party Northern Ireland Assembly member Oliver Gibson in the murder

The Twist In The Story Remarkably, with Nationalist politicians condemning the regiment over collusion, when Sinn Fein LeaderGerry Adams was severely wounded by bullets fired by Loyalist terrorist John "Grug" Gregg in 1984 it was an off-duty UDR soldier who arrested Gregg and his henchmen, holding them at gunpoint with his personal pistol until the RUC arrived.

Weeding out the paramilitaries

The official regimental history of the Ulster Defence Regiment records several attempts to remove anyone with paramilitary connections from the regiment. In the early 1970's this was made difficult by the fact that vetting was done by the regular army who had little or no knowledge of Northern Ireland paramilitary groupings. Protestant organisations were not prolific in the early 1970's and even the Provisional IRA was just emerging and did not have many recruits. More emphasis was therefor placed on getting as many recruits as possible into the under-strength force. The appearance of the UDA in particular heralded a new dawn of infiltration into the regiment and there is no doubt historically that many UDA members joined the UDR in order to acquire military training and intelligence. In 1972 the GOCNI on instructions from Westminster, announced that dual membership would not be tolerated and began a purge which saw 1,000 members forced to resign from the UDR as a result of their connections with Protestant paramilitary organisations. The SDLP pushed for this purge to be extended to members of the Orange Order but no action was ever taken in this direction.

• The Bray Reforms

Brigadier Michael Bray adopted a no-tolerance policy from the beginning of his tenure as Commander UDR. He instituted a number of safeguards including monitoring of entire battalions and six month security reviews of all UDR personnel. Anyone found with even the most tenuous links to Protestant organisations was dismissed from the regiment. An "Out-of-bounds" list was produced which included pubs and clubs known to be frequented by Protestant paramilitaries. Members of the regiment were cautioned as to whom they should socialise with. All of this was a concerted effort to remove anyone with dual membership from the regiment and to prevent peer pressure being applied.

• The Stevens Enquiry

Working under almost total isolation and secrecy from the police and other security forces in Northern Ireland, John Stevens produced what would be the most stinging criticisms of the security forces in Northern Ireland. The Stevens Report resulted in an extreme tightening of control on even the most low-rated intelligence documents and heightened accountability. For the first time the RUC were given access to UDR vetting procedures and many members of the regiment foudn themselves under police observation for extended periods of time, in some cases resulting in the expulsion of soldiers.

• The Bennett Report

As working conditions and wages improved in the regiment many young people saw it as a career opportunity rather than just a means of expressing their wish to defend the Province. Professionalism expanded and there was less tolerance of members with dual membership from the rank and file. With the almost total absence of Catholics in the regiment however, and considering the damage which had already been done by collusion, the UDR was unlikely to ever be free of infiltration by Protestant Paramilitaries and to be unable to regain the confidence of the minority community. The Bennett Committee report of 1989 stressed this acutely and recommended that the regiment be disbanded. A view echoed by Lord Hunt who had made the original recommendation for the formation of the force. In Hunt's view the times had changed, the regiment's role was no longer required, and it was a time to return the duties of the UDR to the police.

Awards, honours & decorations

The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross

The most notable award to the Ulster Defence Regiment was the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross made by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second in 2007. This unit citation confers the right of the regiment to be known as The Ulster Defence Regiment CGC During the award ceremony in Belfast the Queen paid tribute to the regiment by saying "Your contribution to peace and stability in Northern Ireland is unique." "Serving and living within the community had required "uncommon courage and conviction". "The regiment had never flinched despite suffering extreme personal intimidation. Their successes had "come at a terrible price, many gave their lives. Today you have cause to reflect on the fine achievements, while remembering the suffering". "The Home Service Battalions of the RIR and the UDR which had preceded them won the deepest respect throughout the land." So that their actions would always be remembered, the CGC was awarded to the RIR/UDR "as a mark of the nation's esteem" with the citation, "This award is in recognition of the continuous operational service and sacrifice of the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Irish Regiment in Northern Ireland during Operation Banner."

A number of individual town councils in Northern Ireland honoured the regiment with "Freedom of the Borough" awards, most notably that given to the 7/10th (City of Belfast) Battalion where in addition to the Freedom of the City" the Wilkinson Sword of Peace was awarded for "community relations work". This prestigious award was also later given to the 8th (County Tyrone) Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, successor to the 6th & 8th (Co Tyrone) Battalions of the Ulster Defence Regiment.

Many individuals received awards through the British honours system however for most UDR soldiers the presentation of decorations assumed the form of "service" or campaign" medals including:

• The General Service Medal with "Northern Ireland" bar.
• The Ulster Defence Medal
• Northern Ireland Home Service Medal
• The Accumulated Campaign Service Medal
• The Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

Officers who are awarded the Ulster Defence medal (UD) may use the post-nominal letters UD .

Notable members

Professional Soldiers (order by rank, where known)

• General Sir John Anderson (1st Colonel Commandant)
• Brigadier Logan Scott-Bowden
• Brigadier Harry Baxter CBE GM
  
• Brigadier Michael Bray CBE
• Brigadier David Strudley (latterly chief of training for the PSNI)

Politicians (order by rank, where known)

• Colonel (Reginald) Harvey Bicker OBE TD
• Colonel Alan Brooke
• Major Ken Maginnis
• Major Samuel (Sam) Foster CBE
• Captain Frederick Michael Alexander Torrens-Spence DSO, DSC, AFC
• Lieutenant Michael Copeland
• Danny O'Connor
• Oliver Gibson
• Jeffrey Donaldson
• Tom Elliott
• Willie Frazer

Others (order by rank, where known)

• Captain Colin Wallace

References

Bibliography

• A Testimony to Courage - the Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969 - 1992, Major John Furniss Potter, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001, ISBN 0850528194

• The Ulster Defence Regiment - An Instrument of Peace? ISBN-10: 0413648001

External links

• Palace Barracks Memorial Garden
• Regimental Association of the Ulster Defence Regiment CGC
• Murder, Collusion & Lies: The murder of Seamus Ludlow
• Seamus Ludlow by Ed Moloney, Sunday Tribune