John Maddocks, 32-years-old, married with 3 children and a soldier with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps holding the rank of Warrant Officer (WO) was from Stockport, Cheshire. WO Maddocks was killed instantly when an IRA bomb that was planted in a milk churn exploded. He was examining the bomb at Gortmullen, Derrylin.
The milk churn had been spotted 4 days earlier by a civilian but it was sometime before the bomb disposal team moved in. The bomb was close to an elderly woman’s home and her son attached a wire and hook and pulled it away from her home. The bomb squad arrived the same day.
WO2 Maddocks was the 13th bomb disposal man to be killed.
My eldest brother, John Arthur Maddocks, the third generation to bear that name. John was a quiet, peaceful, family man, who joined the Junior Leaders at the age of 16 and made the army his career. Married with three lovely young daughters, John was working on computer systems at Didcot, having seen service in Aden. Bored with his work, John volunteered for a tour of duty in Northern Ireland. His job as bomb disposal suited his nature to save lives and provided the challenge he sought. The bomb that took John was booby-trapped in a way that had not been used before and his death lead to a change in the working proceedures that saved many lives.
John, being 14 years older than me, was always my hero, but he was also simply, my brother.
God bless you John,
‘Till we meet again.
Your brother, Brian.