Herbert Westmacott

Who is Herbert Westmacott?

Captain Herbert Richard Westmacott, MC was a British Army officer who became the first person to be awarded a posthumous Military Cross. As an officer of the Grenadier Guards on Extra Regimental Employment to the Special Air Service, he died in an encounter with the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was the highest-ranking officer of the SAS to be killed in Northern Ireland during Operation Banner.

He was in command of an eight man plain clothes SAS patrol that had been alerted by the Royal Ulster Constabulary that an IRA gun team had taken over a house on Antrim Road, Belfast. A car carrying three SAS men went to the rear of the house, and another car carrying five SAS men went to the front of the house. As the SAS arrived at the front of the house the IRA unit, nicknamed the "M60 gang", opened fire from a window with an M60 machine gun, hitting Captain Westmacott in the head and shoulder killing him instantly. The remaining SAS men at the front, returned fire but were forced to withdraw. One member of the IRA team was apprehended by the SAS at the rear of the house, preparing the unit's escape in a transit van, while the other three IRA members remained inside the house. More members of the security forces were deployed to the scene, and after a brief siege the remaining members of the IRA unit surrendered. His death left him as the highest ranking SAS officer to be killed in Northern Ireland.