British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
corporals Derek Wood and David Howes
[Taylor, p. 284.] were killed by the
Provisional IRA
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
on 19 March 1988 in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, in what became known as the corporals killings. The soldiers (wearing civilian clothes, both armed with
Browning Hi-Power pistols and in a civilian car) drove into the
funeral procession
A funeral procession is a procession, usually in motor vehicles or by foot, from a funeral home or place of worship to the cemetery or crematorium. In earlier times the deceased was typically carried by male family members on a bier or in a cof ...
of an IRA member.
Three days before,
loyalist Michael Stone had
attacked an IRA funeral and killed three people. Believing the soldiers were loyalists intent on repeating Stone's attack,
[ McKittrick, David. ''Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles''. Mainstream Publishing, 2007. pp. 1121–1124. ] dozens of people surrounded and attacked their car. During this, Corporal Wood drew his service pistol and fired a shot into the air. The soldiers were then dragged from the car and taken to a nearby sports ground where they were beaten, stripped and searched. They were then driven to a nearby waste ground where they were shot dead.
The incident was filmed by an overhead British Army helicopter and television news cameras; the images have been described by journalist
Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to:
Arts
* Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
* Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing
Politi ...
as some of the "most dramatic and harrowing" of the
conflict in Northern Ireland.
Two men were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, but were released in 1998 under the terms of the
Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...
. Several other men received lesser sentences for their part in the corporals killings.
Background
The killings took place against a backdrop of violence at high-profile
Irish republican
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The develop ...
funerals. The presence of large numbers of riot police and soldiers at IRA funerals was criticized for sparking unrest.
[Tyler Marshall]
"5 Slayings Prompt Review of Policy on IRA Funerals"
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', 22 March 1988. On 6 March 1988, three unarmed IRA members alleged to have been preparing for a bomb attack on British military personnel were killed by the
Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...
(SAS) in
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
during
Operation Flavius. Their joint funeral was due to be held in Belfast's
Milltown Cemetery
Milltown Cemetery ( ga, Reilig Bhaile an Mhuilinn) is a large cemetery in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between Falls Road and the M1 motorway.
History
Milltown Cemetery opened in 1869 as part ...
on 16 March. The security forces agreed to stay away from the funeral in exchange for guarantees that there would be no
three-volley salute
The three-volley salute is a ceremonial act performed at military funerals and sometimes also police funerals. The custom originates from the European dynastic wars, in which the fighting ceased so that the dead and wounded could be removed. Af ...
by IRA gunmen. A member of the
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and Timeline of Ulster Defence Association act ...
(UDA),
Michael Stone, learned of this agreement. He
attacked the funeral with pistols and grenades, killing three people and wounding more than sixty.
One of those killed was IRA member Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh. Mac Brádaigh's funeral, just three days after Stone's attack, took place amid an extremely tense atmosphere, and those attending feared another loyalist attack. Those attending the funeral included IRA members who acted as stewards.
Derek Tony Wood, aged 24, and David Robert Howes, aged 23, were corporals in the British Army's
Royal Corps of Signals. According to the British Army, Wood and Howes ignored
general order
A general order, in military and paramilitary organizations, is a published directive, originated by a commander and binding upon all personnel under his or her command. Its purpose is to enforce a policy or procedure unique to the unit's situatio ...
s to stay away from the area where the funeral was being held.
["IRA claims killing of policeman"](_blank)
''Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
''. 21 March 1988. It has been presumed that the two men drove into the procession by mistake.
[David McKittrick]
"Northern Ireland: The longest tour of duty is over"
''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
''. 31 July 2007. Howes had arrived in Northern Ireland one week before. Soldiers and police officers suggested that the corporals had gone "wandering", and that Wood was showing his newly arrived colleague the republican districts of Belfast.
[ Ware, John]
"Guns, grenades and lynchings: Revisiting the funeral murders"
''The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
''. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018. Former British soldier Seán Hartnett stated the corporals were members of a military surveillance unit known as the
Joint Communications Unit
The Joint Communications Unit (JCU) is a unit of the Joint Special Operations Command charged to standardize and ensure interoperability of the communication procedures and equipment of JSOC and its subordinate units. JCU was activated at Ft. Br ...
(JCU).
Killings
Corporals Wood and Howes were wearing civilian clothes and driving in a silver
Volkswagen Passat
The Volkswagen Passat is a series of large family cars manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973, and now in its eighth generation. It has been marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Mag ...
hatchback. The Mac Brádaigh funeral was making its way along the
Andersonstown
Andersonstown is a suburb of west Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the foot of the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strong Irish nationalist and Irish ...
Road towards Milltown Cemetery when the corporals' car appeared from the opposite direction. The car drove straight towards the front of the funeral, which was headed by several
black taxis. It drove past a
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...
steward who had signalled it to turn. Mourners at the funeral said they believed they were under attack from
Ulster loyalist
Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a uni ...
s.
The car then mounted a pavement, scattering mourners, and turned into a small side road. When this road was blocked, it then reversed at speed, ending up within the funeral procession. Corporal Wood attempted to drive the car out of the procession but his exit route was blocked by a black taxi.
An angry crowd surrounded the car, smashed the windows and attempted to drag the soldiers out. Wood produced a
Browning Hi-Power 9mm handgun, which each of the soldiers was armed with. Wood climbed partly out of a window and fired a shot in the air, which briefly scattered the crowd. The crowd then surged back, with some of them attacking the car with a wheel-brace and a stepladder snatched from a photographer. The corporals were eventually pulled from the car and punched and kicked to the ground.
["Army corporals killed at IRA funeral"](_blank)
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
History. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
The attack was witnessed by the media and passersby. Journalist
recalled seeing one of the men being dragged past a group of journalists: "He didn't cry out; just looked at us with terrified eyes, as though we were all enemies in a foreign country who wouldn't have understood what language he was speaking if he called out for help".
They were taken to nearby
sports ground, just opposite. Here they were beaten, stripped to their underpants and socks, and searched by a small group of men. The
...