Fetch Felix: the fight against the Ulster bombers 1976-1977/ Derrick Patrick

The heraldry of war contains many famous signs that mark down a man as belonging to or having belonged to a distinguished unit. Felix, a pop-eyed, red and white Disney-style cat, is now one of these signs. He is the proud symbol of a band of men who do one of the most nerve-wracking and worthwhile jobs in the fight against the indiscriminate bombers of Northern Ireland. Since the Troubles stated in Ulster in 1969 the ammunition technical officers of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, commissioned and non-commissioned, have answered thousands of calls to deal with unexploded devices ranging from gas-pipes stuffed with nails to sophisticated radio-controlled bombs containing hundreds of pounds of high explosive. Some have died in the act but many more have been successful, saving the country millions of pounds worth of damage. Their record of courage and skill is second to none. For fourteen months during one of the most violent periods of the campaign, Lieutenant-Colonel Derrick Patrick was the Chief Ammunition Technical Officer in Northern Ireland. No one knew better than he what went through the minds of the men sweltering in heavy protective suits as they pitted their wits against clock set by thugs who made murder a way of life. His own personal experience - to name a tiny sample - in handling three petrol tankers in which bombs has been planted is remarkable. His account of the operations of the ATOs as a whole is nothing short of inspiring. Fetch Felix is the story of a hero and his courageous team who, for obvious reasons, never hit the headlines.