6th Battalion , Ulster Defence Regiment The 6th ( County Tyrone ) Battalion , Ulster Defence Regiment ( 6 UDR ) was formed in 1970 as part of the 7 original battalion s specified in the The Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969 , which received Royal Assent on 18 December 1969 and was brought into force on 1 January 1970 . It was , along with the rest of the regiment , amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers in 1992 to form the Royal Irish Regiment . History . Along with the other 6 original battalions , 6 UDR commenced operational duties on 1 April 1970 . Around 75 % ( 1187 ) of the men of the Tyrone B Specials applied to join 6 UDR of which 419 were accepted . As a result , the battalion started life as the only battalion more or less up to strength and remained so during its history . The first training major ( TISO ) was Major GB Hill , MBE , King ' s Own Borderers . He was located in the Education Building at Lisanelly Barracks , Omagh . Part of his job was to find accommodation for the various companies of the new battalion . Where possible accommodation was sought in army bases although the old Ulster Special Constabulary platoon huts were vacant and available . To have used those would have attracted criticism from those who were already claiming that the UDR was the B Specials under a new name . For a time an old caravan in the centre of Dungannon served as the local UDR post and ten rifles along with 200 rounds of ammunition were stored there . Companies . C Company and The Deanery . The Deanery was an 18th - century mansion in Clogher , County Tyrone . It had been the home of Jonathan Swift , the author of Gulliver ' s Travels and was one of fifteen old large houses taken over by the MOD to house the UDR . After persuading the old lady who lived there to move to less spartan accommodation £150 , 000 was spent on the property to turn it into a base for C Company . The house has now been demolished . Intimidation . Protestant and Catholic soldiers were both intimidated out of the regiment . Following the introduction of internment however more Catholic soldiers found themselves the subject of intimidation from within their own community . In Clady a soldier who had been in the regiment for only three weeks had his front door daubed with the words " Get out of the UDR or be shot - IRA " . Two weeks later as he , his wife and their five children were asleep a shotgun was fired at their home shattering several windows . Casualties . During the general mobilisation for Operation Demetrius a patrol from the battalion came under fire from the Provisional IRA near Clady , County Tyrone . Private Winston Donnell , age 22 , one of four brothers serving in the regiment , was killed outright . He was the first UDR soldier to be killed . Sgt Kenneth Smyth Age 28 , ( B . Company ) , a former B Special , was killed on 10 December 1971 along with ex Pte Daniel McCormick ( a Catholic ) , who had recently resigned from the Regiment . Sgt Smyth had survived a previous attempt to kill him . Private William Bogle , age 27 , ( B Company ) was killed as he sat in his car with his wife and children on 5 December 1972 . His killer was believed to be a former member of the same company , known for his strong republican views , who resigned from the UDR after just one year . He moved to the Republic of Ireland after the shooting and never came back . Private Eva Martin , age 28 , ( C Company ) was fatally wounded by rocket fragments on 3 May 1974 during a PIRA attack on 6 UDR ' s outlying base at the Deanery , Clogher . She was not only the first Greenfinch to be killed in action but also the first female member of the security forces to die in the Troubles . Her husband , Lieutenant Martin was on duty with her when she was killed . Private Martin was Laid to rest at Lisbellaw Presbyterian Church , County Fermanagh . On 13 July 1983 , Ronald Alexander ( 19 ) , John Roxborough ( 19 ) , Oswald Neely ( 20 ) and Thomas Harron ( 25 ) , all members of D Company , were killed in a Provisional Irish Republican Army land mine attack on their mobile patrol on Ballymackilroy Hill , near Ballygawley .