Remembering barracks bloodbath that was among the last violent spasms of the Official IRA – exactly half-a-century later

A ceremony is to take place in the Hampshire town of Aldershot, exactly half-a-century after a republican bloodbath claimed seven lives.
The aftermath of the massacreThe aftermath of the massacre
The aftermath of the massacre

The bombing of February 22, 1972, was one of the last major acts of violence in the Official IRA’s campaign.

The organisation called a ceasefire about three months later which, whilst shaky, marked the beginning of the end for the faction, which had been overtaken by the Provisional IRA in terms of bodycount it was generating.

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The Aldershot bombing targeted the town’s military barracks, which was the headquarters of the Parachute Regiment.

The News Letter in the wake of the massacreThe News Letter in the wake of the massacre
The News Letter in the wake of the massacre

The dead were Catholic chaplain Father Gerry Weston (38), gardener John Haslar (58), and five women working in the barracks canteen: Joan Lunn (39), Cherie Munton (20), Thelma Bosley (44), Margaret Grant (32), and Jill Mansfield (34).

The massacre was said to have been retaliation for the killing of 13 Catholic civilians by the regiment on Bloody Sunday the previous month (a 14th died later).

The website Hampshire Live is reporting that “a new heptagonal memorial plinth, each side representing one of the victims, is to be unveiled by family members during a service of remembrance” at exactly 12.15pm on Tuesday – said to be the time of the detonation.

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The website adds: “Afterwards a parade and march past will take place along Aldershot’s iconic military thoroughfare Queen’s Avenue.”

Seperately, the town’s football club intends to honour the dead during its match against Dover Athletic tonight.

Aldershot Town FC said that there will be “bucket collections across the ground for the Parachute Regimental Association”.

And in the run-up to kick-off at 7.45pm tonight, standard bearers will lead the players onto the pitch, where they will assemble for a minute’s silence.

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Leaving aside these commemorations, the upcoming anniversary has attracted little attention online; the News Letter could find a total of just seven tweets mentioning the words ‘Aldershot’ and ‘bomb’/’bombing’ during February.

Despite the dissolution of the OIRA campaign in spring 1972, some members continued sporadic attacks in the years that followed.

Ultimately, members who were unhappy with the ceasefire went onto form the INLA, which in turn ended up splintering into warring internal cliques and the IPLO.

More from this reporter:

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