2 Distraction Burglaries. Is this a new crime craze?

GlynD

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Imjin river

Could be Royal Ulster Rifles or 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars or even 45 Field Regiment RA - lots of Irish guys in that too. 29 Inf Bde was pretty dominated by the Irish at the time of the Chinese Spring Offensive in 1951.

qwert_yuiop

GlynD wrote: »

Could be Royal Ulster Rifles or 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars or even 45 Field Regiment RA - lots of Irish guys in that too. 29 Inf Bde was pretty dominated by the Irish at the time of the Chinese Spring Offensive in 1951.

RUR. Pretty nasty. Most people don't seem to know about it.

qwert_yuiop

Ticked wrote: »

Fight crime. Shoot back.

Anyone remember the tony Martin case? You're only entitled to cause injury to an intruder if you think you're going to be killed. Tony Martin shot the burglar as he was getting away, and got jailed for it.

GlynD

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

RUR. Pretty nasty. Most people don't seem to know about it.

I know quite a bit about it. I was taught it in regimental history and then in Civvy Street I hunted down books. A remarkable stand. 5,000 men in an oversized brigade, not all even speaking the same language held back 30,000. The Northumberland Fusiliers and the Ulster Rifles were taken to safety clinging to the backs of the Irish Hussars Centurion tanks. when they went to resuce the Glosters a Filipino tank leading the column was knocked out blocking the mountain pass and the Glosters had to be left to their fate. Totally wiped out they were. I think 73 men out of 750 answered the roll call next day.

I met the man who commanded those tanks - Henry Huth. He's dead now. A very brave man. His tank was the last one out of the Imjin Valley.

There's a famous painting you may or may not be aware of, Crash Action by David Rowlands the war artist. It shows the Rifles in action at Imjin with the Irish Hussars tanks in the background. The original is now in the Sgts Mess at 1 Royal Irish but you can get copies. I was going to get one to match my signed copy of Basra Road by Terence Cuneo. Just haven't got round to it yet.

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Anyone remember the tony Martin case? You're only entitled to cause injury to an intruder if you think you're going to be killed. Tony Martin shot the burglar as he was getting away, and got jailed for it.

I do. The English made changes to the law after that and after years of pressure from lobby groups. I can't remember if Tony Martin was let out early as a result. It was a scandal. The guy he shot was a career criminal as was his accomplice - wasn't he wounded too?

qwert_yuiop

Yes he got out but went into hiding as there was supposed to be a reward available for his murder. The wounded lad tried to sue for his injuries but that failed when the Sun had a pic of him on a bike. They were tinkers from here.

GlynD

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Yes he got out but went into hiding as there was supposed to be a reward available for his murder. The wounded lad tried to sue for his injuries but that failed when the Sun had a pic of him on a bike. They were tinkers from here.

I knew they were tinkers but I thought they were English Romanies.

Another interesting point about Imjin. When the Irish Hussars were shooting the Northumberlands and Glosters back into their daytime positions (the Rifles were established "in depth") they were attacked en masse by the Chinese who clambered all over the tank turrets trying to pry open hatches to throw in grenades. The Irishmen's response to that was to turn their guns towards each other's tanks and machine gun the Chinese off. Between that and driving over the corpses the tanks ran with blood from top to bottom. This became a well noted feature of that battle and is still talked about today. 18 tanks is all they had because only C Squadron were "in country" at the time the battle started.

Your dad will probably remember this.

qwert_yuiop

Yes. The horror, the horror.

IrishRose12

The story about kids going up to people's doors and saying about the ball being in the back yard has been happening in Belfast for years. My neighbour was targeted about 4 years ago by the very same story, problem for the fella was that my husband covered our yard, and the neighbours on each side of us with clear perspex covering our yards so she knew it wasn't possible lol.

We're in Nth Belfast and it's happened quite a lot round our area. Some poor woman fell down her steps a few weeks back and broke her hip

Scumbags the lot of them. They deserve any beating they get and more!

GlynD

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Yes. The horror, the horror.

There are a couple of good books available now on Korea. "To the Last Round" by Andrew Salmon is a superb outline of what happened at Imjin with the 29th Bde. He also wrote a superb account of the 27th Bde's experiences in the first year of the war - absolutely harrowing - called "Scorched Earth, Black Snow".

I also picked up a wee volume "From Horses to Chieftains" by a chap called Richard Napier. He was a foundling who was sent to the army on his 14th birthday by the authorities and as a result enjoyed peacetime in Cairo from 1934 before being involved in the Desert War (and getting the MM) and later as a tank commander at Imjin. Very enjoyable, if you're into books.

Your dad is a hero mate. God only knows what he went through.

IrishRose12 wrote: »

The story about kids going up to people's doors and saying about the ball being in the back yard has been happening in Belfast for years. My neighbour was targeted about 4 years ago by the very same story, problem for the fella was that my husband covered our yard, and the neighbours on each side of us with clear perspex covering our yards so she knew it wasn't possible lol.

We're in Nth Belfast and it's happened quite a lot round our area. Some poor woman fell down her steps a few weeks back and broke her hip

Scumbags the lot of them. They deserve any beating they get and more!

I've always seen people from the province, from Ireland in general, as being kind to the vulnerable. It doesn't please me to know that this kind of crime is prevalent. I'm inclined to agree with you that anyone who preys on the weak deserves the worst possible punishment. Imagine if it was your own mammy or daddy? You'd want to kill the offenders.