GULF DEPLOYMENT NEWS - 1ST BATTALION, THE BLACK WATCH
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Jan 03 - The Regimental Pipe Major inspires the
preparations of 1st Battalion, the Black Watch, for
their deployment to the Gulf, on Operation. The Pipe
Major of 1st Battalion The Black Watch, catching a
quick practise session during training, prior to deployment
to the Gulf, at their home base of Sennelager, Germany. |
| 24 Mar 03 - UPDATE FROM REGIMENTAL HQ The Black Watch Battle Group remains as part of 7th Armoured Brigade close to the city of Basra. As at 1600 hours today there have been no reports of casualties in the Battalion. |
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25 Mar 03 - From Regimental HQ SAD NEWS |
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JIM MCBETH
Shirley Stephen did not truly believe the words; her husband, Lance-Corporal Barry Stephen, of the 1st Battalion Black Watch, did not truly mean them. L-Cpl Stephen died a hero’s death in a firefight with enemy forces at Al Zubayr in southern Iraq, the first Scottish soldier killed in combat in the conflict. He was firing a vehicle-mounted machine gun, protecting his colleagues inside the armoured car, when he was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade. It was the death of a model soldier, a man who dedicated his life to the army when he became fed-up working in civvy street. As a member of the Black Watch’s regimental recruitment team, he was regarded as a "poster" soldier. He and his wife - they have no children - lived in Albert Road, Scone, near the regimental headquarters at Balhousie Castle. They had bought their neat flat in a converted steadings "with an eye to the future", said a tearful friend and neighbour. The woman, who did not want to be named, said: "His last words to us before he left were to comfort us. He said, ‘I’ll stay right at the back ...’ "He was an excellent boy, a great lad who celebrated his 31st birthday in the desert last Friday. Barry and Shirley had been in married quarters until a year past December, and then they moved here, obviously with an eye to the future." The couple’s house was empty yesterday, Mrs Stephen having been taken by the army to stay with relatives. But there is still a poignant reminder of her dead husband. He "answers" the phone in their home with the words: "Hello, there is no one here to take your call … please leave a message after the tone." The army said L-Cpl Stephen had been about to be promoted to corporal and could have had "a great future in the army". At the regimental HQ in Perth, the saltire flew at half mast and people paid their respects with floral tributes. One of the dead man’s closest friends and comrades, Sergeant Mark Hudson, also of the Black Watch, paid tribute to the dead soldier. He said: "I know I speak for Barry’s family and all his many friends when I say we are absolutely devastated. He was a wonderful husband and son as well as a great friend. "I know he was very proud to be a soldier and to wear the red hackle. He loved the army, and both his family and I take some comfort from knowing that he died a hero, doing the job he loved. We will miss him dreadfully." Mike O’Mally, the provost of Perth and Kinross, said the entire community was shocked by the death of one of their soldiers. He added: "Everyone is very shocked to hear of this young soldier’s death. There is a deep sense of grief in the air across Perth and Kinross. The association the Black Watch has with this area is a long one and far-reaching. "Most people living in this area have a family member or friend who has served with the Black Watch, and many, many people have a friend or family member who is involved in the action in Iraq. It is very sobering for this area to know that our local regiment is at the forefront of the action." L-Cpl Stephen is the first member of the regiment to die since 1971, during the troubles in Northern Ireland. His death has caused deep hurt on the streets where he lived and one of the old soldiers at Perth Ex-Servicemen’s Club said: "I knew his grandfather Jock, an old soldier, and his father. The laddie moved to Kirkcaldy when he was young but gave up civvy street for the army. It was his life." L-Cpl Stephen’s mother, Jenetta, lives in Perth and is now known as Clements. She and the soldier’s father, Ally, have been long separated. Inquiries at her home yesterday were met with a polite refusal to speak. The dead soldier’s father now lives in Manchester and was understood to be heading for Scotland last night. L-Cpl Stephen’s uncle, David, lives in Perth, where he works as a salesman for an auto-electrics company. A worker there said: "Everyone is stunned. We all knew Barry, but we only found it was he who died when David came to work. "It’s now you realise that the war is more than television pictures." David bravely decided to carry on with his job and was "on the road". No one was available to comment at the family homes in nearby Glencarse and Bridge of Earn. The city’s main church, St John’s, in the heart of Perth, opened its doors yesterday for anyone who needed to pray or meditate. They will remain open until the end of the war. |
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27 Mar 03 - From Regimental HQ Scots troops battle Iraqi militia |
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30 Mar 03 - From Regimental HQ Troops relish Basra statue raid With the Black Watch battle group at Basra. It's
0600 and Basra is burning, black clouds of oily
smoke drifting over the city to the east, the sound
of gunfire rolling across the canal ....... |
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02 Apr 03 - http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/news3.html By Keith Gladdis, Deputy Political Editor in Qatar JUST 20 infantrymen of Scotland's elite regiment The Black Watch spearheaded a stunning British blitz on Basra. On a night of stunning victories across several fronts, the daring Scots crept into the city under cover of darkness. They evaded hundreds of fanatical Iraqi militia to DESTROY five T55 tanks with handheld Milan missiles and WRECK more than five mortar positions. A propaganda TV station was BLASTED and a bunker sheltering a paramilitary death squad was BLOWN UP. During other actions around Iraq's second city in a night of British glory, 320 senior Ba'ath party militia were KILLED and 300 Iraqis taken PRISONER. Many of the actions involved targeting by SAS and SBS men. And as a parting shot eleven Challenger II tanks of the Scots Dragoon Guards entered the city, defying rocket-propelled grenades bursting on their armoured sides. The Desert Rats attacked three targets—and symbolically toppled two Saddam Hussein statues, one a 15ft monstrosity made of cast iron. Tank commander David Ross, whose Challenger II destroyed the iron statue with one shell, said: "It just sort of crumpled, there was a big flash and sparks, and it disappeared. I wish it was the real thing." There were NO British casualties and it is believed not one civilian was killed. Routed The Black Watch have been in every major British conflict for 278 years, winning 169 Battle Honours, six VCs—and instilling fear into all their enemies. They last fought in Basra in World War I—and went on to drive the Turks from Baghdad. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Basra yesterday troops from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers knocked out three Iraqi troop carriers—and Cobra helicopters zapped three more. As the victories racked up, Marines from 3 Commando blew up a T55 tank and destroyed enemy mortar positions on the Al Faw peninsula. They also destroyed two enemy militia bases and took 300 prisoners. In nearby Az Zubayr more Desert Rats of 2 Royal Tank Regiment Battle Group routed a nest of Al Qa'eda terrorists and secured the town. As in Basra the tanks and armoured personnel carriers attacked in the face of rocket propelled grenade (RPG) strikes. Lieutenant Colonel Piers Hankinson, the officer in charge, said: "Air strikes were called in and a series of precision bombing missions carried out. We followed with a dawn attack with Challenger II tanks and Warrior armoured personnel carriers. "The enemy were armed with RPG 7s and many of our vehicles suffered multiple strikes from these. The Challenger II and Warrior APC are superbly well protected vehicles and this enabled our men to remain safe. The enemy's headquarters was paralysed and then destroyed. "At the centre of the headquarters area was the town hospital. This was left practically unscathed although the head doctor mentioned a tank round passing through his office —causing him to duck!" As at Basra there were NO Allied casualties, but many of their tanks and APCs displayed two-inch dents and grenade scars. IN THE NORTH Saddam Hussein's vital Medina Republican Guard division protecting Baghdad were dealt scores of crippling blows in air attacks. Clear skies after a spate of sandstorms allowed our overwhelming air power to take full advantage of a four day "pause" in the Allied ground advance. Our advance infantry, armour and artillery are restocking with ammo, and reinforcing supply lines, before the big assault on Saddam's capital. RAF Harrier pilots are operating four hours on and four hours off, knocking out the Medina Guards' tanks and artillery and infantry—softening up Iraq's strongest troops. At the Harriers' desert base Armour Chief Tech Chris Snodin totted up the bomb tally launched in one day by the RAF — just five per cent of Allied air power. "Eight free falls, twelve Paveway, two laser guided bombs, two enhanced satellite guided Paveways, four Maverick missiles and two large free falls," he said. "I wouldn't want to be an Iraqi under all that." Apache helicopters of America's Screaming Eagles—the 101st Airborne—also attacked the Medina Guards.including tanks, armoured personnel carriers and trucks, and at least 50 dead." High level bombing and missile attacks on Baghdad continued for a straight 10th day. What was left of the Information Ministry was flattened. Group Captain Mike Harwood, commander of our Harrier squadron, spelled out how the Allies are stepping up the pace of the war. He said: "We are not now using indiscriminate force we are still using precision bombing—but the percentage of planes now coming back Winchester (having dropped all their bombs) is much higher than the first couple of days we went kebab side (RAF slang for over the Iraqi border). "When we first arrived there was the hope we wouldn't fight at all and then we had to say we meant business. "If the regime doesn't buckle under the first bit of pressure then you mount the pressure, and if they meet that then you go to the next level |
| 07 Apr - Bagpipes play as Black Watch takes
Basra **************************************** GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN with the Black Watch in Basra THE Iraqis were hiding in a bunker at the side
of the road when the tanks first
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| 08 Apr - Here is an excerpt of a story printed
in the Hudson Gazette (04/02/03) concerning Pte Matt
McEwen from Hudson, Quebec currently serving with
the 7th Armoured Brigade "The Desert Rats"
near Basra:
Local boys fighting in Iraq
When Hudson resident Matthew McEwen joined the Black Watch in the U.K. last year, he and his family had no way of knowing that he would be in the middle of a war in Iraq less than a year later. Even if he had known, it would probably have made no difference, his mother Diane McEwen told the Hudson Gazette this week. "He always wanted to be a soldier." McEwen, who is able to contact her son via an e-mail letter which takes 48 hours to be delivered, admits it is a 'nerve-wracking' time. "Getting a response is hard," she said. "He has no access to a phone or e-mail." However, she did receive a letter last week which was very reassuring. It took a week to get here but it confirmed what McEwen knew in her heart, that Matthew has no regrets about his chosen career. "He was very positive. He believes in what he is doing," she said. McEwen is now somewhere outside Basra with British troops. He is a member of the 7th Armoured Brigade, the legendary Desert Rats, and is a reconnaissance expert. He had been in Kuwait since March 1 and moved into Iraq the day the war started. It has not been an easy route for Matthew McEwen. Rejected by the Canadian Armed Forces and discouraged by the paperwork needed to join the U.S. Marines, he flew to Scotland in 1999 to try another route. He was accepted by the Black Watch and did seven months training in Perth. When he graduated in October, 2000, he was named Best Recruit of the Year. A long-range reconnaissance specialist, he quickly got his feet wet, doing a seven-month stint in Kosovo, after being parachuted in behind enemy lines. Matthew is now on a six-month tour of duty. How long he will be in Iraq will all depend on what happens in Baghdad in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, his mother can only watch and worry. "I have become an armchair colonel!" she joked, only half-heartedly. McEwen, whose father passed away not long after he graduated, also has two sisters who are worrying about him. |
23 Apr - The Saltire-draped casket, adorned with the blue bonnet of the Black Watch, lies at rest.
Final respects paid to Scots soldier JIM MCBETH
In that belief, there was great comfort to be found in Perth yesterday as the city gave its final salute to Lance Corporal Barry "Baz" Stephen, a soldier who wore the blue bonnet and red hackle with honour. L-Cpl Stephen, 31, of the 1st Battalion Black Watch, was, in the words of those he left behind, the bravest - the only Scottish soldier to die in the Gulf, killed when an Iraqi militia grenade exploded as he returned enemy fire. His colleagues yesterday called him a hero and a great soldier, a role model for all who follow him; his family were content to describe him as a wonderful husband and son. The residents of his home town stood in silence as his Saltire-draped casket, adorned with the blue bonnet, bore the first casualty of war to emerge from the arched doors of St John’s Kirk since the Korean conflict of the early 1950s. The tragic symmetry of the occasion was not lost on the many hundreds, who lined the streets and provided his final guard of honour. St John’s is, historically and symbolically, the very heart of Perth, a refuge in times of crisis. It is also the regimental church, and it was Baz Stephen’s local parish. As six soldiers carried their fallen comrade into the light, an old man with tears in his eyes, his chest bedecked with medals from an earlier conflict with its own share of loss and tragedy, whispered: "God give rest to you, son." During the 45-minute service, those who knew, admired and loved him spoke of the man who epitomised his regiment’s motto: Nemo me impune lacessitt - No-one provokes me with impunity. Many of the city residents who gathered in crowds that encompassed babes in arms to pensioners with sticks, had never before witnessed a funeral with military honours. But they were there for the return of L-Cpl Stephen, who was killed at Az Zubayr in Southern Iraq, just a few days into the conflict, one of 30 British soldiers killed in action during the war against Saddam Hussein’s evil regime. Bert Young, 81, the elderly soldier with the medals and his own memories of the Second World War, said: "I’m glad they could bring him home for his mother and his wife. It has to be a comfort. I knew so many men from my generation who died only to remain where they fell." L-Cpl’s Stephen’s family were also heartened by poetic words written many years ago by a young and anonymous combatant of the First World War: "... still through chaos works the ancient plan". After the service, his loved ones came into the street and hugged each other against a coldness that will take time rather than embraces to dissipate. His coffin bore a message from his wife, Shirley, which read simply: "Love you always - Shirley XXX". It was one of many tributes inside the kirk to come from the regiment and his friends and family. From his parents, there was a bouquet and message: "Fair thee well my soldier laddie, rest in peace now the battle’s over. Love Mum and Dad." "To Uncle Baz," another card read. "You will always be our hero - lots of love, Chris and Jake." Nearby was a wreath in the design of a motorbike - a passion of L-Cpl Stephen’s - which read: "RIP Baz, a hero to us all, from all his mates." Another, from his in-laws, said: "Barry, we are so proud of you. A super son-in-law, and brother-in-law. Always loved, sorely missed, never forgotten. Forever in our thoughts. Roy, Sheena and Karen". The dead soldier’s wife said: "Since the devastating news of Barry’s death in action on 24 March, we have been inundated with literally hundreds of cards, letters and e-mail messages of sympathy and support from across the world. To know our personal loss has been felt so widely has been a great comfort in these difficult weeks. "We are particularly grateful to the people of Perth for their support today, and glad to know that they share our sense of pride in Barry. He in turn was proud to belong both to the city and to its local regiment, the Black Watch. "Barry worked hard and achieved much in his short life and we, his family, are very proud of him. He will be sorely missed forever." L-Cpl Stephen joined the Black Watch in 1997 and had served in Northern Ireland, Germany and Britain before becoming part of the regimental recruiting team. He rejoined the mortar platoon, which is usually based in Germany, last year. Brigadier Gary Barnett, the colonel of the Black Watch, said: "He is an outstanding example of a loyal, considerate and caring soldier, who will be remembered as someone who served his regiment and country to the very best of his ability, demonstrating courage and leadership at all times." Rev Neil Gardner, a former chaplain of the Black Watch, who delivered the funeral address, added: "His selfless courage in the face of enemy fire has come as no surprise to those who knew him best. "Nor has the nature of resistance that the Black Watch battle group faced come as any surprise to a regiment long used to conflict in the desert." It was ironic, said the minister, that exactly 60 years ago, the regiment was involved in a similar fight "under the same Eastern skies that Barry Stephen was killed in action". In April 1943, a poem written by the regiment’s most famous soldier, Field Marshall Earl Wavell, finished with: "Fighting ’gainst greed for power and hate and lies." That time, the enemy was Hitler. The service ended with the collect - regimental prayer - of the Black Watch. "O God, whose strength sets fast the mountains, Lord of the Hill to whom we lift our eyes: grant us grace that we of the Black Watch, once chosen to watch the mountains of an early kingdom, may stand fast in the faith and be strong, until we come to our heavenly Kingdom of Him who has bidden us watch and pray." The final plaintive note of the Last Post was replaced by the skirl of the pipes as Pipe Major Steven Small played the lament of Lochaber No More. High above, in the steeple of St John’s, the church’s carillon of 35 bells tolled as L-Cpl Stephen and his band of brothers made their long, slow march through the streets, in honour of a brave man and a fallen comrade. |
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Mar 03 - From the Scotsman