At one minute past midnight the British Armed forces formally withdrew from Northern Ireland - bringing to a close the longest military operation in its history.

In all more than 300,000 soldiers have been deployed in Ulster since the Harold Wilson-led Government sent troops there in August 1969.

During the course of the Troubles, as they became known, more than 3,000 people lost their lives, 763 of them British soldiers.

The single biggest loss of life for the Army was the Warren Point bombing in which two booby trapped devices killed 18 soldiers including members of the Parachute Regiment in 1979.

The Paras were the most hated regiment in Northern Ireland by nationalists after Bloody Sunday in 1972 when members of 1 Para shot and killed 14 unarmed civilians in Derry in 1972.

Bradford Council leader Kris Hopkins served in Northern Ireland in the 1980s as a soldier in the Duke of Wellington's Regiment.

During his time there he saw rioting, mortar attacks, bombings and sectarian killings.

He said: "There was such immense hatred there, but also, I think, an absolute desperation for peace. There was a massive impact on civilian communities on both sides.

"I was 23 when I signed up and the civilian doctor, who had worked in Belfast, said before you go over there try to find out why you are going because I've seen too many squaddies on a slab not knowing why."

Councillor Hopkins said that the Army should not have been deployed in a policing role.

"As squaddies we went there to police. How do you ask shock troops like the paras to undertake a policing role?

"I remember watching the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and (Ian) Paisley shaking hands with Martin McGuinness. I find it quite hard to reconcile but it is the right route to take and I hope this is a step on the road to normality, although there is still a long way to go."

Michael Mullan, a former Northern Ireland journalist now living in Manningham, Bradford, remembered how an initially cautious welcome to the Army evaporated.

"Back in 1972, when for the first time a British patrol took up position outside our holiday home in Port Stewart my mother sent me out with mugs of tea.

"But then cousins and friends of the family were banged up in jail for their activism in the civil rights movement, which had nothing to do with terrorism.

"I would have respect for most, but not all, of the soldiers I met serving there.

"The rank and file were ordinary decent blokes, probably scared witless most of the time, while the officer corps contained some deeply cynical and unpleasant people.

"Maybe Bradford can learn something from our mistakes. When a majority community oppresses and excludes a minority, you've got a problem.

"You have to recognise that, learn to love your diversity. That way, you won't end up with troops on your streets."

Among the Bradford soldiers who served in Northern Ireland was paratrooper Lee Clegg who was jailed for life for the murder and wounding of two joy riders in West Belfast in 1993.

The car had failed to stop at an army checkpoint and had been fired upon. He was released from jail after two years and had his conviction overturned several years later after a lengthy public campaign.

In 2005 another former Bradford paratrooper, John Niland, died aged 45 at Champion House in Calverley - a home run by the Leonard Cheshire charity.

Mr Niland had been blown up in Belfast in the 1980s suffering severe head injuries when a car bomb exploded as he tried to remove it.

He suffered a fractured skull and was left suffering with epilepsy and mood swings.

In an interview with the Telegraph & Argus a year before his death, Mr Niland described how the charity had saved him after his life went into turmoil for 16 years when he was medically discharged by the Paras.

He said: "I was living on a Bradford estate, mixing with alcoholics and a bad lot. I was on the edge. I was low and going down fast.

"My doctor told me to get away before it was too late and that's when I heard about the work of Leonard Cheshire who luckily had an empty bed for me at Calverley.

"It was the start of a new life and I haven't looked back. If it wasn't for Champion House I would probably be dead and not here to tell my story, " he said.

He went on to become one of the charity's top ambassadors, raising funds for it on sponsored walks.