30 years ago today

30 years ago today Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC along with The Dowager Baroness Brabourne, The Hon. Nicholas Knatchbull and local teenager Paul Maxwell, were killed in Ireland by a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA.

Some facts about this IRA bombing that are often forgotten:
1. Nicholas Knatchbull's mother and father, along with his twin brother Timothy, survived the explosion but were seriously injured. The injured are often the forgotten victims of bombings and that is as true today in Afghanistan or in London on 7/7 as it was then. Their suffering continues for long after the attack and may like Lady Tebbit's last a lifetime.

2. Sinn Féin's then vice-president Gerry Adams said of Mountbatten's death "The IRA gave clear reasons for the execution. I think it is unfortunate that anyone has to be killed, but the furore created by Mountbatten's death showed up the hypocritical attitude of the media establishment. As a member of the House of Lords, Mountbatten was an emotional figure in both British and Irish politics. What the IRA did to him is what Mountbatten had been doing all his life to other people; and with his war record I don't think he could have objected to dying in what was clearly a war situation. He knew the danger involved in coming to this country. In my opinion, the IRA achieved its objective: people started paying attention to what was happening in Ireland." No compassion, no remorse from Gerry Adams. I wonder what Martin McGuinness has to say about the attack?

3. On the same day that Earl Mountbatten and his companions were killed, the IRA also ambushed and killed eighteen British Army soldiers at Warrenpoint, County Down in what became known as the Warrenpoint ambush.

4. The only bomber arrested for this murderous attack, Thomas McMahon, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in the Republic of Ireland on 23 November 1979, but was released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. He served less than 20 years for these murders and was released as part of the deal that gave power to the political wing of the organisation that he was part of and was responsible for the killing of so many innocent people.


Earl Mountbatten, Baroness Brabourne, Nicholas Knatchbull and Paul Maxwell - "At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them"