 A search revealed that the men were British soldiers.Their captors found a military ID on Howes which was marked "Herford", the site of a British military base in Germany, but it is believed they misread it as "Hereford", the headquarters of the SAS.Redemptorist priest Father Alec Reid, who played a significant part in the peace process leading to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, intervened and attempted to save the soldiers, and asked people to call an ambulance.I got down between the two of them and I had my arm around this one and I was holding this one up by the shoulder...They were so disciplined, they just lay there totally still and I decided to myself they were soldiers.