One of the hits was this site and I read James S topic on RAF Castle Archdale. I showed some of the photos to my wife that James posted and there were tears in her eyes. She was born in Killadeas and remembers the Catalinas and Sunderland’s flying over her house. I was stationed in Castle Archdale not with the RAF but the army, we met at a dance in Enniskillen and the rest is history, 50th anniversary next year. Thanks for your posts and photos James, ex trooper 9th 12th Lancers.
Hello and welcome to the forum. The Castle Archdale thread has produced some great posts with much information. Regards Tom
Hello and welcome to the forum. The Castle Archdale thread has produced some great posts with much information. Regards Tom [FONT="]Thanks for the welcome mate, yep brilliant topic and I must say a great site. [/FONT]
Thanks for popping in to say that about James's thread. Pleases me greatly when we find the forum & it's member's have entertained or informed someone's Googling, particularly with a bit of live nostalgia. Now do feel free to stick around. The more the merrier! ~A
Welcome to WW2 talk, glad you liked them , more than happy to have been able to share them with you. js
I hope you dont mind me addiing to this topic. last weekend me and my wife where at Archdale for the weekend. Its a caravan site, and today this site has a restaurant called the Galley and a pub called the Pilots Nooks. They are opened seasonally to accommodate the local residents and last weekend was their "end of season" bash to clear their stocks !!!!. After a few pints of the black stuff (James S will vouch for this !!!) I metioned your great story to a few local lisnarick pint men who thought I was giving them some of the old blarney chat. However they asked which Regiment you served in and when they found out the conversation totally changed. They advised me to visit the local church grounds located at the entrance of the old estate because they told me a Royal Lancer was buried there. Its a much talked about grave and over the years I have recalled people chatting about it but sadly very know little is known about the lad, so I had to investigate because of this thread. As a result I found this resting place and took a picture. Cheers Aaran
Nice post Savo. Thought I'd add this link. AFM Results Page Surname WALKDEN Forenames/Initials Eric Rank Tpr Service Army Service Number 23660060 Regiment/Corps 9/12 LANCERS Date of Birth 15 November 1939 Age 21 Date of Death 17 September 1961 Cemetery Name Lisnarick Cemetery Included on Armed Forces Memorial No Included on Roll of Honour Yes
Like myself Trooper Eric Walkden was a member of B Squadron based at Castle Archdale. The rest of the Regiment was at Omagh. The I.R.A border campaign was ongoing at the time and we were tasked to support the police and patrol the Fermanagh border. We always had a troop of armoured cars and crews on immediate standby in case of trouble. This was a 24 hour duty, you could sleep during the night but you had to have your personal weapon with you at all times and sleep with all your clothes on. Eric was on this duty when a 38 pistol was accidentally discharged and he was killed. Eric had lost his mother a few years before his death and he was an only child. As a father myself I cannot imagine how much Eric’s father suffered. In my view those loved ones who are left behind are the ones who suffer the most.