Harry McCallion > Quotes

“Paratroopers are human Alsatians.”
― Harry McCallion, Killing Zone: A Life in the PARAs, the RECCEs, the SAS and the RUC

“My mind was on a silent hillside, in a land far away, and gods who should be left to sleep. *”
― Harry McCallion, Killing Zone: A Life in the PARAs, the RECCEs, the SAS and the RUC

“A shot was fired, the mob jumped back for a second then set about the car with renewed fury. In the end, two men were taken out and shot dead. They were Corporals Derek Wood and Robert Howes.”
― Harry McCallion, Killing Zone: A Life in the PARAs, the RECCEs, the SAS and the RUC

“On the ground the reaction was one of revulsion. One old lady stopped me in the Ardoyne. ‘Son, I thought we couldn’t sink any lower until I saw what they did to those two wee boys yesterday.’ There were tears in her eyes. ‘It’s terrible, simply terrible.”
― Harry McCallion, Killing Zone: A Life in the PARAs, the RECCEs, the SAS and the RUC

“Fear is a good emotion to cultivate; it keeps you alert. Without it few survive.”
― Harry McCallion, Killing Zone: A Life in the PARAs, the RECCEs, the SAS and the RUC

“It’s a fish eagle, Jock.’ ‘It sounds so sad.’ He nodded. ‘It is. They mate for life and if their mate dies they never take another. That’s the sound they make when they’ve lost their mate.’ It was something I will never forget. Even now, years later, when I watch the sun go down, I still hear it, an echo from my past.”
― Harry McCallion, Killing Zone: A Life in the PARAs, the RECCEs, the SAS and the RUC