- Extended Description
“Corporal Alan BUCKLEY.
You were a husband, a father and a soldier too.
You lived for the Army and died for it.
Proud of your Regiment it meant everything to you.
I will always love you.”
Corporal 24060500 Alan Buckley. 1st Kings Regiment
Born 1949. Died 13 May May 1972 aged 22 years during the Battle of Springmartin, West Belfast
He was the first fatality of The Kings Regiment
At rest in Gorton Cemetery, Thornwood Ave, Manchester. Grave section HH, number 247.
The Battle of Springmartin started Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th May 1971 between IRA ,UVF and the Army at the top of Protestant Springmartin estate The UVF had occupied abandoned maisonettes which overlooked the Catholic Ballymurphy Estate. When the Kings Regiment arrived at the scene they too were fired on by the IRA. Corporal Buckley was fatally shot by the Provisionals on Whiterock Road on the 13 May 1972 aged 22 years. A platoon of soldiers then gave covering fire while a medical officer tried to help him.
At the end of the battle 10 had died.
This memorial plaque is at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas Staffordshire.
Battle at Springmartin - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
