Friday 1 March 2019

ON THIS DAY IN 1972, CORBYN'S MATES...

The Provisional IRA murdered off duty British soldier Thomas Fletcher at his home near Garrison, Co Fermanagh.  The part-time UDR man lived on a farm adjacent to the Irish border and was stopped by four terrorists as he left home for work.  He was marched into a nearby field and shot at least 14 times.  His wife Edith witnessed the murder from their farmhouse and watched as the gunmen fled back over the border on foot.

Pte Thomas John Fletcher, known as Johnny, was 43.  Several of his colleagues fled their homes after his murder, leading to an exodus of the last remaining Protestant families in Garrison.  The IRA was accused of cleansing the border region of Protestants.

Memorial plaque to Pte Fletcher at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire