The Troubles in Ballykinler
The Troubles in Ballykinler recounts incidents during, and the effects of, The Troubles in Ballykinler, County Down, Northern Ireland.
Incidents in Ballykinler during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities:
1974
- 28 October 1974 - Michael Swanick (20) and Alan Coughlan (22), both members of the British Army, were killed in a Provisional Irish Republican Army van bomb attack outside Ballykinler British Army base.[1] The 300lb[2] bomb, concealed in a delivery van parked on the opposite side of the road from the Sandes home at the base, exploded without warning causing the building to catch fire and collapse. It was completely gutted within minutes. Two soldiers died in the explosion, and 33 others, mainly soldiers but including two civilians, were injured in the attack.[3] Private Swanick was a member of the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment and Corporal Coughlan a member of the Royal Welch Fusiliers.[4]
In 1986 a memorial stone to the two soldiers who died was unveiled outside a new Sandes home built on the site of the one destroyed.[3]
See also
References