There have been many a grave period of time in Irelands troubled past,most recently the 'Troubles' in the North.
Although there is a sense of normality these days and democracy is working well,every now and then dark insights into our past come to light,this being the most recent.

On the nite of 14 May 1977,South Armagh wasnt a place for a serving British Officer to be out on his own,the area is a maze of winding roads and smugglers trails criss crossing the border with the Republic,and one of the fiercest Republican areas in the North,the brits nicknamed it 'bandit country'.

Captain Robert Nairic SAS seems to have had other ideas.He was working alone undercover in a pub called The Three Steps,but for whatever reason stuck out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6769697.stm

I hope it is a comfort to his family to know what happened. I am sure there are many families who would like to know what happened to the disappeared on both sides.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/355300.stm

Nairac tried to imitate an Irish accent and to even learn a cúpla focal. He thought he could fool the dumb paddies into believing he was one of them.

The British Army were pretty upset with him as when he went missing they sent out a few squads to do a search and rescue, putting their men in harms way. At that time the Brits couldn't really operate on the ground because the republican armies controlled the territory, except in covert operations and even that was difficult.