May 1971: 4 Dead!
May 1971: 4 Dead!
2 Soldiers, 1 Republican and 1 Civilian die in a chaotic month.
Bulgaria’s constitution finally went into effect in May 1971. This positive political development was the opposite of what we continued to see in Northern Ireland at the time; utter chaos!
In May 1971, British security forces uncovered a UVF store of gelignite explosives at Nutt's Corner outside Belfast.
On the 8th of May, we had another death. Isabella McKeague died in a fire which followed an incendiary bomb attack on a shop below her flat, Albertbridge Road, Belfast. You can watch a news report on the incident from the BBC archives below.
The 15th of May brought another death in the conflict. William 'Billy' Reid, an IRA member, was shot dead by British soldiers in Belfast. According to 'Lost Lives' Reid was the person who fired the shot which killed Robert Curtis, the first British soldier to be killed in 'the Troubles', on 6 February 1971. Reid was reportedly killed on Curtis Street near the centre of Belfast when a foot patrol of the British Army was ambushed in Academy Street in the centre of Belfast by the Third Battalion Belfast Brigade. Mr Reid (32) was engaged with the foot patrol when a comrade was wounded. He told his two comrades to run and that he would hold off the patrol. His gun jammed and he tried to escape. He was shot in the back.
Just a week later, on the 22nd of May, a British soldier, Robert Bankier, was killed by members of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) in Belfast. Very early in the morning of the 22nd of May, a mobile patrol of four men of the 1st Battalion, Royal Green Jackets went to the assistance of a military police patrol of four men who were under attack from a gang of youths in Cromac Square, Belfast. On the arrival of the Royal Green Jackets patrol, the youths ran off, with the patrol giving chase on foot until they came under attack from at least three gunmen who fired about 11 shots from a sub-machine gun. The patrol fired five shots in return without, it is believed, inflicting injury. During this exchange of fire, Corporal Bankier, the leader of the patrol, received fatal wounds but no other injuries were sustained by the military patrols. A large-scale cordon and search operation was instituted with all the streets and about 240 houses in the area were searched. Three shotguns, one Thompson sub-machine gun, one ·45 pistol, one 9 m.m. Luger pistol, one nail grenade and nine 9 m.m. rounds were found lying in an alleyway.
3 days later, another British soldier lost his life. Michael Willets was killed in Springfield Road RUC station by the Provisional IRA. A man in his mid-twenties emerged from a car and threw a suitcase containing a blast bomb into the lobby of the station. It’s reported that Willets thrust two children and two adults into a corner and stood above them as the 30 lbs of explosives detonated, seriously injuring him. Seven RUC officers, two British soldiers and eighteen civilians were injured in the attack. Willets was fatally injured by a chunk of metal from a locker which had struck him in the back of the head. As he was being removed by ambulance, he and the injured officers were jeered by local youths who screamed obscenities at them. Willets died after two hours on the operating table at Royal Victoria Hospital.
Some recommended reading based on the research for this instalment.
UVF: The Endgame by Jim Cusack
The Provos: The IRA and Sinn Fein by Peter Taylor
Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA by Richard English
