Hard Rain (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781967598335)

The story in Hard Rain is based on my own experiences and that of others. Stories heard and stories told. It is written in a fictional form based on a central character who in real life was a combination of several people I either served with or knew of. The period the book covers was probably the most violent time in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1972. It was a time when two communities changed from living peacefully side by side into two warring camps.

The terrorist organization of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) which had existed since the 1920's took full advantage of the civil unrest and turned it into a brutal war of terror, with little regard for who was killed by their bombs and bullets. They maintained a bloody control over the Catholic communities where they chose to hide. Beatings, kneecappings (shooting a person in the knee) or worse, using an electric drill. If that didn't keep people in line then a night time knock on the door and a bullet through the head would follow. This was the enemy the security forces faced and defeated.

The courage of the people of Northern Ireland, both Catholic and Protestant always amazed me and I admired them greatly.