Memorial services will today mark the 30th anniversary of Lord Mountbatten's death in an IRA bombing in Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, and the killing of 18 soldiers in the North.
In one of the darkest days of the Troubles, Lord Mountbatten (79), cousin to Queen Elizabeth, was killed by a bomb on his fishing boat off the west coast of Ireland, swiftly followed by the slaughter of 18 soldiers in Northern Ireland.
On August 27th 1979 - a bank holiday Monday - the IRA detonated a bomb on Lord Mountbatten's boat Shadow Vwhich had just set off from the fishing village of Mullaghmore in Co Sligo.
One of Mountbatten’s twin grandsons, Nicholas (14), as well as local teenager Paul Maxwell (15), also died in the blast. The Dowager Lady Brabourne (83) died later from her injuries.
An ecumenical service at the Star of the Sea Church in Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, will mark the 30th anniversary of the deaths. It will be attended by friends and staff of the Mountbattens, the Maxwell family as well as local residents of the village.
In the wake of that attack, the IRA detonated two 800lb bombs beside Narrow Water Castle at Warrenpoint, Co Down. The first explosion killed 16 soldiers, the second two more who had been sent to the scene.
A civilian, Londoner Michael Hudson, who was one of the Queen’s royal coachmen, was shot dead while bird watching on a nearby island when soldiers opened fire across Carlingford Lough into the Republic where they believed the bomber had detonated the devices.
A memorial service will be held at Narrow Water, Co Down, at 3.15pm, the precise moment the first bomb exploded. It will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony.
Narrow Water was the British army’s largest single loss of life in more than 35 years in Northern Ireland and the largest single loss of life in any single event of the North until the dissident Real IRA detonated the Omagh bomb in August 1998 killing 29 people including a mother pregnant with twins.
PA