First female UDR soldier killed by IRA.

Event
Thu, 05/02/1974

UDR Cap Badge The first female soldier of The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) to be killed by the IRA was Private Eva Martin, aged 28, from Lisbellaw, County Fermanagh. She died during the attack on the Deanery base of C Company, 6th Battalion The Ulster Defence Regiment, in Clogher, County Tyrone.

Opening with mortars, then continuing with small arms and rockets, the estimated forty-man IRA team mounted a sustained attack lasting some 20 minutes against the small contingent in the base. The base replied with rifle fire and during the attack Eva Martin was fatally wounded when she was struck by a rocket fragment. Her husband was also on duty in the base at the time of the attack.

It was not until 1988 that a self-confessed terrorist surrendered to police in Kent, England and was subsequently tried and convicted of Eva Martin's murder.

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