February 1978: La Mon House Hotel Bombing
At the 20th Grammy Awards, "Hotel California" by The Eagles won. In Northern Ireland, an atrocity at a hotel was far from idyllic like California, with a dozen families being drenched in grief and anger.
Political Developments in February 1978
The SDLP was reported in the Irish Times on the 7th of February, stating that it is "the British dimension which is the obstacle keeping us away from a lasting solution".
On the 15th, SDLP Deputy Leader John Hume said that the British government should consider a third option in its search for a political solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland. The first option, of maintaining the status quo or further integration with Britain, was one that Nationalists believed the government had been following, and the second option was withdrawal from Northern Ireland which many Nationalists were advocating. The third option was an "agreed Ireland" where the British government would declare that its objective was to bring the two main traditions in Ireland together in reconciliation and agreement.
The Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party was dissolved as a political party and most of the party's members joined the Ulster Unionist Party on the 25th of February. According to the Standing Committee of Irish Catholic Bishops conference the vast majority of Irish people wanted the conflict in Northern Ireland to end. On the same day, Vice-President of Sinn Féin Gerry Adams was charged with membership of the IRA. On the 6th of September 1978, Adams was freed when the Judge hearing the case ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that he was a member of the IRA.
Shootings in February 1978
03/02/78 - Civilian Bernard Brown (50) died five days after being shot by the IRA during an armed robbery at a supermarket, Killygordon, County Donegal.
04/02/78 - Protestant civilian Martha McAlpine (69), was accidentally shot dead during an IRA attack from a passing van on an RUC foot patrol outside Seaview football ground, Shore Road, Skegoneill, Belfast.
07/02/78 - Off-duty UDR soldier John Eaglesham (58), was shot dead by the IRA while delivering mail at The Rock, near Pomeroy, County Tyrone.
17/02/78 - One of the highest ranking soldiers to be killed in action during the Troubles, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Corden-Lloyd (39), died when the Gazelle helicopter he was flying on was brought down with machine gun fire by members of PIRA's South Armagh Brigade. For many years the British Army denied the claim that the helicopter was shot down, before finally acknowledging that the IRA had indeed caused the crash.
26/02/78 - IRA volunteer Paul Duffy (23) was shot dead by an undercover British Army unit at an arms cache in the yard of an unoccupied farmhouse Coagh/Ardboe area, County Tyrone.
26/02/78 - Following an IRSP H-Block rally, an INLA unit ambushed a Saracen APC after slowing it down with a makeshift barricade on the Springfield Road, Belfast. A British soldier was wounded.
26/02/78 - An INLA member armed only with a handgun fired into an armoured car at point-blank range in west Belfast.
28/02/78 - RUC officer Charles Simpson (26) was shot dead in an IRA sniper attack on an RUC mobile patrol at the junction of Clarendon and Francis streets, Rosemount, Derry.
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Bombings in February 1978
08/02/78 - UDR member William Gordon (39) and Lesley Gordon (10), his daughter, were killed by a booby-trap bomb attached to a car outside their home in Maghera, County Derry, by the IRA.
11/02/78 - Catholic civilians Michael Scott (10) and Mary Smyth (71) were killed when the UVF exploded a bomb at their home on Oldpark Avenue, Belfast.
17/02/78 - Twelve people, all Protestant civilians, were killed and 23 badly injured when an incendiary bomb exploded at the restaurant of the La Mon House Hotel, Gransha, near Belfast. The bomb had been planted by the IRA. Canisters of petrol had been attached to a bomb which was left on a window-sill of the restaurant. An inadequate warning had been given and the hotel was being cleared when the bomb exploded. Many of those killed were burnt to death. Seven of the dead were women. There were three married couples among the dead. All those who died were attending the annual dinner dance of the Irish Collie Club. Those who lost their lives were Paul Nelson (37), Elizabeth McCracken (25), Ian McCracken (25), Thomas Neeson (52), Dorothy Nelson (34), Sandra Morris (27), Christine Lockhart (33), Sarah Cooper (52), Joan Crothers (30), Gordon Crothers (30), Carol Mills (26) and Daniel Magill (37). The RUC carried out a series of arrests the following day in connection with the bombing.
26/02/78 - The INLA threw a hand grenade at the RUC station on the Springfield Road, Belfast.
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I’ve also recently released Tales of The Troubles: Volume 1. The Early Years - 1960s. Check it out. It would be a great addition to your library or a gift for someone. Stay tuned for Volume 2, covering the 1970s.
If you’d like to let me know what you think of today’s instalment, please comment below.
Some recommended reading based on research for this instalment.
INLA Deadly Divisions by Henry McDonald and Jack Holland.
