Page 15 - Flaming Cauldron – Issue 59

ACC ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

Berlin was at the forefront of the Cold tours in Northern Ireland. He himself the day of internment and the next
War, with tension and intrigue never far was under fire on a number of occasions day or two would turn out to be such a
from the surface, and Howlett’s time and in 1972 he was appointed OBE for rebellious period with as much rioting,
there would serve him well when he was gallantry. shooting, petrol and nail bombing as it
promoted to senior rank. It was during that period that was. I don’t think any of us were quite
In 1955 he transferred to The Howlett was travelling in a small group prepared for the big change.”
Parachute Regiment, joining the Third of vehicles which came under intense He added: “The situation was never
Battalion, and at the time of the Suez fire, several rounds hitting his Land the same again… Following internment
Crisis in late 1956 he was their Air Rover. The paratroopers, officers and there had become an enemy out there
Adjutant. men left the vehicles and mounted an who were definitely armed and firing
On November 5 1956, 3 Para were immediate counter-attack on IRA gun- at us.”
chosen for a parachute assault to cap- men, who fled the scene. A regimental note from the time
ture El Gamil airfield (now Port Said Returning to the vehicles, which said soldiers viewed the incident in
International Airport). Howlett was had been guarded by the drivers, August as “inflicting severe casualties
responsible for ensuring that the aircraft Howlett, seeing that his driver was on the IRA”, but at the inquest Howlett
were correctly loaded with troops from profoundly shocked, put his arm conceded that “most if not all [the civil-
different companies, so that they arrived around the young Para and told him: ian victims] were not IRA”.
properly grouped together when they “Take it easy, take my seat and I’ll drive One of those who died from the
hit the ground. back.” Which he did. shootings on August 9 1971 was a
He jumped on the second lift, and Nearly 50 years later, in 2019, aged Catholic priest, Father Hugh Mullan.
the airfield and its surroundings were 89, Howlett found himself back in Howlett said it was “quite obvious
secured for the loss of four dead and Belfast, summonsed to give evidence that Fr Mullan was not part of the IRA”
32 wounded. at the Ballymurphy inquests into and that he was almost certainly giving
Next, Howlett took part in anti- deaths which occurred during “intern- someone the last rites.
terrorist operations in Cyprus against ment week”, August 1971 – Operation Howlett would later support calls for
the Greek-Cypriot group Eoka, before Demetrius, which entailed the sweeping a statute of limitations on prosecutions
returning to Britain to become an up and detention of scores of men and of soldiers accused of offences during
instructor at Eaton Hall and Mons women. Internment was intended to the Troubles, saying in 2022: “It has
officer cadet schools. He then joined neutralise the threat from the IRA, but been more than 50 years. It is starting to
2 Para, becoming adjutant and then a many of those detained had no links to become absurd.”
company commander, serving oper- the terrorists. Between 1973 and 1975 he was
ational tours in Kuwait and Bahrain Because of his age, Howlett was an instructor at the Royal College of
before being selected to attend the RAF told, he could avoid attending, but he Defence Studies in London, after which
Staff College at Bracknell. explained that he felt a moral imperative he was appointed brigade commander
In 1964 he served on the staff of 16 to attend – even though it would mean of 16 Parachute Brigade based in
Parachute Brigade Headquarters during that he would be aggressively interro- Aldershot. In 1977 he became Director
an emergency UN peacekeeping tour gated by lawyers. of Army Recruiting, and two years
of Cyprus. His diplomatic skills and He also declined the protection of later he was promoted Major General
straight talking were used to full effect anonymity, and after giving evidence to command 1st Armoured Division
when he became liaison officer between at the hearing in Belfast, he asked the in Germany, a key component of the
headquarters and the Turkish Cypriot coroner’s permission to address the British Army of the Rhine.
leader Dr Fazil Kucuk. assembled relations of the dead. “I In 1981 he was appointed Colonel
Howlett then became training have enormous sympathy with you all,” Commandant of the Army Catering
major of 15 Para – the Paras’ Scottish he said, “…as relatives of those who Corps, a position he held until 1989,
territorial battalion – before returning to were killed in this case on the ninth of and between 1983 and 1990 he was
2 Para as second in command, with post- August 1971. Colonel Commandant of the Parachute
ings in the UK, Malaya and Hong Kong. “I know something about bereave- Regiment. A fellow Para officer
He attended the Combined Staff ment, because my father was killed in described Howlett as a “great, wise and
College at Latimer, Buckinghamshire, Italy in the war, when I was 13, and I unflappable” figure, who at the time of
followed, in 1969, by appointment as wanted to know everything about how his death was considered the “Father of
military assistant to the Commander in it happened as well.” the Regiment”.
Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe, He described that day in 1971 as From 1982 to 1983 he was com-
based near Oslo. “the busiest” of his life, with internment mandant of RMA Sandhurst, where he
In 1971 he assumed command of having unexpected catastrophic results. was a fine role model for aspiring young
2 Para and oversaw four operational “None of us realised,” he recalled, “that leaders.

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