ON THIS DAY IN 1992, CORBYN'S MATES...

The Provisional IRA attempted to murder a part-time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment.  Corporal Eric Glass was also a dog warden employed by Fermanagh District Council.  It was in this capacity that he was lured to an isolated farmhouse near the border, having received a report of a dog attack.  The bogus call had been made by a four-man IRA gang that had taken over the farmhouse the previous night, holding the elderly farmer captive.

As Cpl Glass approached the property the terrorists began their ambush and ordered him out of his van.  However, the off duty soldier had his personal protection weapon close to hand and opened fire on the gunmen, killing one of them.  In the ensuing gun battle Cpl Glass was struck in the legs and seriously injured, but he managed to fight off his attackers despite the odds being stacked against him.  There were four of them and they had automatic weapons.  He had a pistol.  The three survivors fled back across the border.

The dead terrorist came from Sligo in the Republic and was a member of a high profile republican family.  Gerry Adams gave the eulogy at his funeral and his father later became the Sinn Fein mayor of Sligo.

Cpl Glass was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal and Distinguished Conduct Medal for his action, making him the most highly decorated soldier in the history of the regiment.  He later gave a full account of the ambush to the Belfast Newsletter.

Cpl Glass of 4th Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment