|Search ON THIS DAY by date|
1979: Mountbatten and Warrenpoint massacresLord Louis Mountbatten, the Queen's cousin and a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, was killed in his boat by an IRA bomb.
Just hours earlier, 18 soldiers were blown up in two booby-trap bomb explosions near Warrenpoint, close to the border with the Irish Republic.
The IRA issued a statement that read: "This operation is one of the discriminate ways we can bring to the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country."
We were in work when the news came on and we heard about those poor soldiers and then a few hours later about Lord Mountbatten. The workplace came to a standstill and no-one spoke as we were all in shock, as the factory was mixed religions.
Most of the workers went home - a sad day for all and one we never forget.
I can remember the shock in the part of Co Cork where I live.
It's worth recording that a memorial service for Lord Mountbatten, his grandson and the local boy was held in the small Church of Ireland church in Cappoquin, Co Waterford.
Those of us who attended felt somewhat at risk but felt it important to distance ourselves from militant republicans.
There may have been other similar services in the Irish Republic.
I remember, as a young lad, being out with my mother in East Belfast. We were shopping for my new school uniform and news reached us about the atrocities that had taken place in Mullaghmore and Warrenpoint.
Many years later, as an adult, I travelled to the spot in Warrenpoint where the 18 soldiers were killed. It is such a beautiful part of Ireland, overlooking Carlingford Lough and the hills of the Irish Republic. Such a tragedy that this peaceful place should witness the evil deeds of terrorists.
I was a nurse on duty in Daisy Hill Hospital on the day of this bombing, the sights and memories of which haunt me to this day.
My brother, who was Regimental Sergeant Major in the Marines, after the bombing he placed a pencil sketch of Narrow Water (the last of my grandfather's artistic works) in the sergeants' mess at the Ballykelly army base in memorial to those who died that day.
Regards to all who read this. Please tell me what this bombing achieved other than sorrow, nightmares and hardship to all involved.
I was nine years old at the time and lived in Bessbrook, the village where the helicopter that was caught up in the second Warrenpoint bomb took off from.
We lived opposite a heavily fortified police station and the soldiers regularly crouched in the porch of our front door. We heard about the Warrenpoint bomb while Dad and my aunts were out for the day. When they returned everyone was upset. They had heard the news in town and my aunt was quite nervous.
Warrenpoint was about 15 miles away. We turned the telly on in case there were reports of Warrenpoint on the news and that was when we heard of the Mountbatten bomb. My aunt had been reassured by us before she came [back from London] that the Troubles weren't as bad as it had been reported on the English news.
I remember questioning if we had told her the truth.
I well remember the cowardly act perpetrated by men without honour 25 years ago. At that time, I was a tour guide in Ibiza, Spain, working for the Swedish tour operator Vingresor which had just started working in the UK bringing British tourists to this Mediterranean island.
I learnt of the misdeed on my way to assist some of them on a location on its east coast. The air was warm and humid, I could sense the particular smell of pine trees, and I shook my head in disbelief: is that bravery - to kill an old man and his teen grandson, and even more people? Shame and disgrace, that's what it was!
I was living in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire when I heard the news on BBC Radio 4. I was touched by the Prayer for the Day. A local clergyman said St Francis of Assisi's prayer for peace. The events of the day dampened my 32nd birthday party. It was a sad day.
I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was a ten-year -old Catholic school boy over here in the "colonies", listening to a visiting priest from Belfast tell us tales of Irish Catholics being "knee-capped, maimed and murdered" for their faith by the English.
"They got 13 not forgotten, we got 10 and Mountbatten!"
It's the 21st century. Give Ireland back to the Irish. You're just as bad as the Yanks.
I grew up in Sligo and I remember going to Mullaghmore to attend a prayer service for him. I can remember hundreds of people in attendance.
I remember also the attack in Warrenpoint and the disgust that most people in Ireland felt at the time. At least now we have moved forward, I don't think we can ever go back to those days again.
Although this man was very much disliked by Canadians, we mourned his loss by sharing the grief of members of the Royal Family. The barbarity of his murder was sickening and disgusting to say the least.
His incompetence in the planning and direction of the Dieppe raid on 19 August, 1942 is hard to forget. Or was it something other than incompetence? Some say we were betrayed, so that the failure of the raid, would convince our American and Russian allies that a second front in 1943 was impossible.
I was shocked and saddened to see the comments of my fellow Canadians.
Lord Mountbatten was not disliked in Canada and it is offensive to suggest that he purposefully sacrificed Canadians at Dieppe in order to make a point to the Soviets and the Americans.
Further, it is revolting to think that a purported man of God would welcome the death of anyone, particuarly two elderly non-combatants and a pair of children.
There was nothing glorious or justified about this killing and it should be viewed for what it was - the appalling act of a misguided coward.
I'm from nearby Sligo town and was only four years old at the time.
I didn't have a clue what was going on but remember myself and the whole family being bundled into the car and driven off to Mullaghmore the day it happened to see what was going on. I think everybody from the surrounding 100 miles was there too - there were traffic jams for miles and I remember loads of very serious, worried-looking policemen driving traffic around.
Everybody in my area was shocked because, although we are quite near the border, nothing of this magnitude had ever happened before.
To this day I still visit Mullaghmore and go down to look at Classiebawn - a beautiful fairytale-type castle and out on the sea and the rocks where it happened. I don't think it will ever be forgotten by the people of Sligo.
I was a police constable at that time and that evening was called to some drunks in the park.
One of them was Irish and shouted: "The boys sorted you English today."
Before I could do anything one of the others punched him and floored him.
When I looked the one who had struck the blow was in tears. He muttered: "He was a great man."
I thought enough was enough and left.
Later that week I had to escort the army burial party when they came to the town on their tour round the country to bury their dead.
To see and hear the parents of the dead soldier and to see the effect it was having on the burial party was something I have never forgotten.
|Search ON THIS DAY by date|
|^^ back to top|
|Front Page | Years | Themes | Witness|
|©MMVIII | News Sources | Privacy & Cookies Policy