John Roache write - A couple of years ago an elderly gentleman who had served with the Royal Artillery informed me that while he was serving in the Middle East during the 1970's he got into conversation with another soldier and the topic of Ireland came up. This other soldier informed him that his father was killed in Ireland and buried somewhere in Ireland. His mother was very upset with the British Government over the circumstances of his death. If memory serves me correctly this elderly gentleman stated that the man's name was Hillier and that this man's father served with the Green Howards. This regiment(2nd Bn) was deployed in counties Limerick and Tipperary during the conflict. Obviously this soldier could have been killed after the Truce. ...However this soldier was on intelligence duty when he went missing.Sadly the elderly gentleman who gave me this story is no longer with us.I believe this soldier volunteered from the rank and file for intelligence work as happens in all war's and conflicts.I dont believe he was trained as a professional intelligence officer.It would be great to identify this soldier and solve this mystery as the information I gave is concrete.
The problem is that he could presumably be any phonetic match like Hilliard which is a more common name. But I cannot find a burial in Ireland in GRO for any likely man.
The only Green Howard appears to be Pte J Clinkivitch
An A Hillier of Royal Fusiliers died in 1922 in Belfast. Death cert is with PRONI not Dublin. 2nd Ryl Fus 6779669
