The Forkhill Bombing 50th Anniversary Badge
1975 - 2025
The Forkhill Bombing, also known as the Forkhill Beer Keg Bombing, was a bomb attack carried out by IRA terrorists in the Forkhill area in South Armagh.
On the 17th July 1975, Major Peter Willis, the Green Howards company commander in Crossmaglen was accompanied by three British soldiers, all of whom were bomb disposal experts. They were investigating a milk churn at Cortreasla Bridge in Tullydonnell. They walked through a gap in a hedge beside a signpost. As they did so, a 70 lb bomb that had been packed into a beer keg and buried in the ground, was detonated by command wire from about 400 yards away. Four soldiers were killed outright with another injured by shrapnel.
This badge has been produced by the Ancre Somme Association Charity in memory of the following, killed in this cowardly attack.
Major Peter Willis (37) Green Howards
WO2 Edward Garside (34) Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Sergeant Robert McCarter (33) Royal Engineers
Corporal Calvert William Brown (25) Royal Army Ordnance Corps
"We Will Always Remember Them"
35mm x 30mm
Butter Fly Clip
©ASA 2024