ST HELENS soldiers Alan Clubb and Simon Kilgannon, members of the British element of the NATO Implementation Force (IFOR) sent to Bosnia in December, have spoken about their harrowing experiences in the war-ravaged country.

Former Grange Park pupil Alan, known as 'Biscuit' to his army pals, is a Royal Military Policeman (Redcap) and the corporal is working from the Croatian port of Split, where he is a section commander in charge of all the RMP vehicles.

He drove the RMP commander to Bihac for an initial visit to the former enclave which had been constantly at war for the last three years and was staggered by the experience.

"It was a big eye-opener. We went through a lot of ethnically-cleansed areas and visited a refugee camp. It was minus four degrees and they were living in tents, it's just not what you expect.

"We went through a 20-mile long valley and there were villages and towns just all empty - I'd not seen anything like that before. You don't think that it can happen on that scale. Village after village and towns - just nothing."

Alan, whose parents, William and Marion, still live in St Helens, is normally stationed in Monchengladbach, Germany, where he lives with his wife, Denise.

Simon Kilgannon, who has also been in Bosnia since December, is a supply specialist in the Royal Logistic Corps and delivers stores and supplies to British soldiers working throughout Bosnia.

The former Edmund Campion pupil from Sutton Heath is based in the central Bosnian town of Sipovo, an area captured by the Croat army last summer, but due to be returned to the Bosnian Serbs later this month under the terms of the Dayton Agreement.

Simon, who is married to Juliette and has two children, Faye (six) and and three-year-old Sara, explains: "My job is to drive around supplying stores for British military units. I mainly deal with technical stores and spares for vehicles. The tour is going well for me - although the cold weather was a bit of a shock, it's freezing out here.

"I've seen a lot of the country and I've been shocked by what I saw. I drove through village after village and they've been totally trashed. You have to feel sorry for these people now that the war is over and they have nowhere to live."

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