THE TOWN of Lifford bid a sad farewell yesterday to the military troops of Lifford Barracks who marched for the last time from the old Border post.
Over 1,000 people turned out to watch the 129 members of the A company, 28th Infantry Battalion, stage a marching-out ceremony at 11am, with a ceremonial lowering of the Tricolour and military parade afterwards.
The Athlone-based 4th Western Brigade played The Town I Loved So Well as the troops, led by Lifford OC Dan O’Connor, marched out the gates, bringing to an end the 35-year military association with the town.
The Mayor of Donegal, Councillor Gerry Crawford, a native of Lifford, said it was a significant and sad day for the town.
“It’s not just a loss for the economy of Lifford and the surrounding areas, but it’s also a loss to the community because of the part personnel have played in the community for over 30 years . . . they’ve been good to the community and the community has been good to them.”
He added: “The troops based here have served their base, their county and their country well both here and overseas in difficult times.”
GOC of the Western Brigade, Brig Gerry Hegarty said: “It is a day of mixed emotions, when you think of this place being open since 1974 and all the troops that have passed by here. It was very important at one stage for operational reasons to have a post out here and the people in this post did a great job. The history of the last 35 years are in these Border posts,” he said.
“Not only did they provide troops for security of Border areas, but also provided excellent troops overseas for operations in the Lebanon, Liberia and Chad. What we are doing in the Defence Forces, especially in this Western Brigade, is consolidating into bigger barracks which makes for more efficiencies but also saves quite a bit of money,” he said.
Pte Noel Hannigan, whose four brothers also served in Lifford, said it was a “very emotional” day.
“It was sad seeing the flag coming down for the last time in Lifford, I think everybody had a tear in their eye,” he said.
“Lifford is a small camp so if you needed someone to do a duty for you, one of your buddies would have done it or vice versa. All the families, wives and girlfriends knew each other as well,” he added. His brother, Jerome, said: “We’ve always been known as good soldiers over the years and anytime we went and exercised overseas, we always stood out.”
Today the troops of the B Company of the 28th Infantry Battalion will depart Rockhill House in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.