Excerpt from 'Lost Lives', page 1240
Lost Lives Victim: 3211
The Lance Corporal was killed instantly by an IRA landmine while on foot patrol at Carickovaddy between Newtonhamilton and Crossmaglen, in South Armagh.
On Thursday 15th August 1991 he had formed part of a three team multiple tasked on a three day patrol of South Armagh in the Newtownhamilton area.
The army had been searching the area for a montage of 96 photographs of IRA suspects lost in the area some time earlier.
The foot patrol was passing through a plantation to rendezvous with an army helicopter from Bessbrook.
"At 0800hrs the patrol Sergeant's team–with Simon as the third man–entered a fire break in the wood and followed it through to a distinctive bend. As Simon exited the left bend an explosion erupted only feet away killing him instantly and completely destroying his body.
Police said the soldiers were walking through the forest when the device containing 300lbs of explosives was detonated.
The patrol having reacted to the attack frantically searched the location for Simon. There was no hope of finding him. In the two day follow up search operation his body was never found, only parts of his body were found amongst the blood stained trees. Only the barrel of his GPMG was located mangled and bent, parts of blood stained equipment and small parts of him that remained were found. The largest part that was found, his left lower arm, was located outside of the wood 330 feet away."
The Lance Corporals wedding ring was found intact, it was only five months old.
It had been buried in the bank of a track made as a firebreak through the wood. The soldier, from the regiments second battalion, he was from London.
His brother Darren, was serving in Northern Ireland with the Royal Green Jackets at the time and was patrolling, after being told, he was flown out of Northern Ireland within hours.
Simon was 22 years old when he was killed. He had served in the Coldstream Guards for five years and was from the Regiment's Second Battalion. On March 9th 1991, two days after his wedding, he deployed to Northern Ireland on his second tour.
His brother would later write the book 'A Rendezvous with the Enemy: My Brother's Life and Death with the Coldstream Guards in Northern Ireland', published in 2010.
Lost Lives Victim: 3211
The Lance Corporal was killed instantly by an IRA landmine while on foot patrol at Carickovaddy between Newtonhamilton and Crossmaglen, in South Armagh.
On Thursday 15th August 1991 he had formed part of a three team multiple tasked on a three day patrol of South Armagh in the Newtownhamilton area.
The army had been searching the area for a montage of 96 photographs of IRA suspects lost in the area some time earlier.
The foot patrol was passing through a plantation to rendezvous with an army helicopter from Bessbrook.
"At 0800hrs the patrol Sergeant's team–with Simon as the third man–entered a fire break in the wood and followed it through to a distinctive bend. As Simon exited the left bend an explosion erupted only feet away killing him instantly and completely destroying his body.
Police said the soldiers were walking through the forest when the device containing 300lbs of explosives was detonated.
The patrol having reacted to the attack frantically searched the location for Simon. There was no hope of finding him. In the two day follow up search operation his body was never found, only parts of his body were found amongst the blood stained trees. Only the barrel of his GPMG was located mangled and bent, parts of blood stained equipment and small parts of him that remained were found. The largest part that was found, his left lower arm, was located outside of the wood 330 feet away."
The Lance Corporals wedding ring was found intact, it was only five months old.
It had been buried in the bank of a track made as a firebreak through the wood. The soldier, from the regiments second battalion, he was from London.
His brother Darren, was serving in Northern Ireland with the Royal Green Jackets at the time and was patrolling, after being told, he was flown out of Northern Ireland within hours.
Simon was 22 years old when he was killed. He had served in the Coldstream Guards for five years and was from the Regiment's Second Battalion. On March 9th 1991, two days after his wedding, he deployed to Northern Ireland on his second tour.
His brother would later write the book 'A Rendezvous with the Enemy: My Brother's Life and Death with the Coldstream Guards in Northern Ireland', published in 2010.
Excerpt from 'Lost Lives', page 1240
Lost Lives Victim: 3211
The Lance Corporal was killed instantly by an IRA landmine while on foot patrol at Carickovaddy between Newtonhamilton and Crossmaglen, in South Armagh.
On Thursday 15th August 1991 he had formed part of a three team multiple tasked on a three day patrol of South Armagh in the Newtownhamilton area.
The army had been searching the area for a montage of 96 photographs of IRA suspects lost in the area some time earlier.
The foot patrol was passing through a plantation to rendezvous with an army helicopter from Bessbrook.
"At 0800hrs the patrol Sergeant's team–with Simon as the third man–entered a fire break in the wood and followed it through to a distinctive bend. As Simon exited the left bend an explosion erupted only feet away killing him instantly and completely destroying his body.
Police said the soldiers were walking through the forest when the device containing 300lbs of explosives was detonated.
The patrol having reacted to the attack frantically searched the location for Simon. There was no hope of finding him. In the two day follow up search operation his body was never found, only parts of his body were found amongst the blood stained trees. Only the barrel of his GPMG was located mangled and bent, parts of blood stained equipment and small parts of him that remained were found. The largest part that was found, his left lower arm, was located outside of the wood 330 feet away."
The Lance Corporals wedding ring was found intact, it was only five months old.
It had been buried in the bank of a track made as a firebreak through the wood. The soldier, from the regiments second battalion, he was from London.
His brother Darren, was serving in Northern Ireland with the Royal Green Jackets at the time and was patrolling, after being told, he was flown out of Northern Ireland within hours.
Simon was 22 years old when he was killed. He had served in the Coldstream Guards for five years and was from the Regiment's Second Battalion. On March 9th 1991, two days after his wedding, he deployed to Northern Ireland on his second tour.
His brother would later write the book 'A Rendezvous with the Enemy: My Brother's Life and Death with the Coldstream Guards in Northern Ireland', published in 2010.
Lost Lives Victim: 3211
The Lance Corporal was killed instantly by an IRA landmine while on foot patrol at Carickovaddy between Newtonhamilton and Crossmaglen, in South Armagh.
On Thursday 15th August 1991 he had formed part of a three team multiple tasked on a three day patrol of South Armagh in the Newtownhamilton area.
The army had been searching the area for a montage of 96 photographs of IRA suspects lost in the area some time earlier.
The foot patrol was passing through a plantation to rendezvous with an army helicopter from Bessbrook.
"At 0800hrs the patrol Sergeant's team–with Simon as the third man–entered a fire break in the wood and followed it through to a distinctive bend. As Simon exited the left bend an explosion erupted only feet away killing him instantly and completely destroying his body.
Police said the soldiers were walking through the forest when the device containing 300lbs of explosives was detonated.
The patrol having reacted to the attack frantically searched the location for Simon. There was no hope of finding him. In the two day follow up search operation his body was never found, only parts of his body were found amongst the blood stained trees. Only the barrel of his GPMG was located mangled and bent, parts of blood stained equipment and small parts of him that remained were found. The largest part that was found, his left lower arm, was located outside of the wood 330 feet away."
The Lance Corporals wedding ring was found intact, it was only five months old.
It had been buried in the bank of a track made as a firebreak through the wood. The soldier, from the regiments second battalion, he was from London.
His brother Darren, was serving in Northern Ireland with the Royal Green Jackets at the time and was patrolling, after being told, he was flown out of Northern Ireland within hours.
Simon was 22 years old when he was killed. He had served in the Coldstream Guards for five years and was from the Regiment's Second Battalion. On March 9th 1991, two days after his wedding, he deployed to Northern Ireland on his second tour.
His brother would later write the book 'A Rendezvous with the Enemy: My Brother's Life and Death with the Coldstream Guards in Northern Ireland', published in 2010.
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