A soldier's first public account

A former member of 14 Intelligence Company, known only as Blue, has told for the first time how he was shot through the stomach during an undercover operation in Northern Ireland.

The Det's secret surveillance mission

Blue was twenty-two when he and another soldier set up a covert observation post beside a farm in South Derry on St Patrick's Day, seventeen March nineteen seventy-eight, tracking suspected Republican militants.

Their target: a wanted IRA gunman

The surveillance team's target was Francis Hughes, a twenty-two-year-old IRA gunman regarded by police as one of their most wanted men. They hoped an associate at the farm would lead them to him.

Something felt wrong

As Blue and his partner hid in darkness, the farm owner began wandering the yard with no logical reason. Blue felt uneasy. Then he heard movement in the undergrowth to his left.

“My gut was telling me something bad was going to go down. The hairs on the back of my neck started to come up.”

Two armed figures approached

Two men emerged wearing military uniform: beret, combat jacket and weapon held ready. They appeared to patrol like trained infantry. Blue and his partner assumed they were fellow British security forces.

The decision that changed everything

Blue could have withdrawn silently to guarantee safety, but risked destroying the wider surveillance operation. He decided to stay and whisper to the approaching men: Stop. Security forces.

Gunfire at twelve feet

One man spoke in an Irish accent, briefly reassuring Blue. Then he heard weapons being cocked. Both men opened fire. Blue was shot three times at a range of twelve feet.

“It was just like a hail of gunfire at a range of twelve feet. I was shot three times.”

Catastrophic injuries

One round passed through Blue's pistol grip before striking him.Another tore through his sleeve.A third passed through his abdomen, destroying his left kidney, damaging his colon and passing within half an inch of his spine.

His partner mortally wounded

Lance Corporal David Jones was also shot through the abdomen. The round damaged his spleen. He was mortally wounded. Jones was twenty-three and due to be married the following week.

Fighting back from the ground

From the ground, Blue fired an entire thirty-two-round magazine towards the muzzle flashes as the IRA men withdrew. He later discovered he had hit both men. Bullets passed inches from his head.

“I just basically emptied the magazine.”

Fighting to survive

Severely injured and losing blood, Blue crawled to the radio only to find its handset cable disconnected. On what he thought would be his final attempt, he reconnected it. Blood was everywhere.

“It's like having a shallow bath in blood. You're drenched in blood.”

A choice that haunted him

Blue refused treatment and ordered the arriving Det operator to help Jones first. He then realised he may have condemned himself to death. An ambulance took forty-five minutes to arrive, having got lost.

“You've just signed your death warrant here.”

Jones died; Hughes was captured

When Blue woke in hospital, curtains had been drawn around his bed. He was told Jones had died. The gunman Blue had shot was Francis Hughes himself, found the next morning badly wounded.

“Your partner has died, and we didn't want you to wake up and see him being pulled away.”

Hughes jailed; Blue's lasting regret

Hughes was later jailed for the murder of Jones and attempted murder of Blue.He died in the Maze Prison in nineteen eighty-one after fifty-nine days on hunger strike.

“That little decision, or big decision, cost my buddy's life.”