THE LONE bugler who played The Last Post at a special memorial service in 1979 for Earl Mountbatten of Burma at the site of his murder was also a tragic victim at sea.
Young Adrian McCarthy fell into the Indian Ocean off western Australia and vanished three years after Lord Mountbatten was blown to death in the sea at Mullaghmore, Co Sligo. Adrian’s remains were never recovered.
He was 19 when, as best trumpet-player in the Sligo Brass and Reed Band, he was invited to play at a simple memorial service in Mullaghmore just weeks after Mountbatten was killed on August 27th, 1979. He wore his best suit for the occasion.
The following year, when the furniture company that employed him shut down, Adrian went to Australia.
On August 25th, 1982, he met a tragic end at the age of 22 while working as a deckhand on a prawn trawler off Perth.
He was never identified in a published photograph showing him in silhouette as he played The Last Post at Mullaghmore.
In 1979, his family asked that he be not identified because of fears of reprisals by the IRA. As yesterday’s 30th anniversary of the atrocity was marked with a multidenominational prayer service in Mullaghmore, Adrian’s name and his role in the first memorial service were revealed.
Adrian’s sister Geraldine Corrigan lives in Tallaght and his elderly parents Michael and Brid still live at Treacy Avenue, Sligo.