Disappointed families including Carolyn and Chloe Wall and Annette Graham and Philip Aughney were denied the chance to see the lowering of the flag at their husbands' barracks, Dún Uí Néill as it closed for the last time today. Photo: Lorraine Teevan. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO

'Like thieves at the gate...'

Though their number may have been few, the emotion was great. The bugle playing the Last Post could barely be heard over the thundering traffic of the Dublin Road but that didn't stop a group of ten or more ex-service members, their wives, the wives of current serving members and their families from gathering at the gates of Dún Uí Néill to pay their final respects, as an official flag lowering ceremony took place inside to mark the official closure of the barracks yesterday (Tuesday). A date on the footpath they stood on, penned by finger while the cement was still wet read '15-3-1990', the date the barracks opened. Yesterday - '27-3-2012' - it ceased to be a military installation. The flag was lowered marking the end of the Defence Forces' operational presence in the county since the formation of the State and over two decades on the Dublin Road. "What did they think we were going to do?", asked Teddy Maguire, who served at Dun Ui Neill since it opened, and in the Defence Forces for over 40-years. "Did they think we'd riot? Did they think we'd protest? We tried that and we lost, we're faced with that and now today we only wanted to say goodbye to the barracks and congratulations to the men still here, but we're not even allowed to do that. It's shameful". Some present outside Dún Uí Néill alluded to the celebrated send-off soldiers received in Clonmel earlier in the week and the series of events planned in Mullingar today. "Why then all the cloak and dagger stuff here?" one person asked. The tearful wife of one current serving member, who cannot be named due to the stringent clampdown on speaking to the press within the Defence Forces, told The Anglo-Celt her husband is still unsure where exactly he'll be stationed once the gates are closed, locked and chained. "We're like thieves at the gate being left here. I wanted to bring my children out here today, take them to let them see their father on this sad but proud day. But instead it's been made into something hurtful. "I don't think anyone not connected to the Defence Forces can understand how much this affects us, how much it's going to affect the town. There have been people coming here all morning, coming up to the gate and being turned away. This is what we've been reduced to, peering in through the gates crying as we wait for our men to come out so we can congratulate them." With the Last Post played out and the flag officially lowered, the steady stream departing the barracks were greeted by the gathering at the entrance, and though the sun was shining, many of those serving members emerging wore dark glasses - perhaps as much to shield their eyes as to hide their true emotions on the day. More reaction in this week's Anglo-Celt.