50 years today since the Birmingham pub bombings

Gillycats, I share your feelings about the prosecution of now very elderly former military who were based in Northern Ireland, in the absence of prosecutions, or even acknowledging responsibility for horrific murders by paramilitaries. Having said this, there have been less deaths since the Good Friday agreement

My first husband was stationed in RAF Germany in the ‘80’s. We had 3 very small children. Whether outside your home or at the supermarket you had to search your car for bombs before getting in.
Someone has already mentioned Mick Islania and his dear baby daughter Ruthi. They were killed in cold blood by 2 IRA terrorists (who knew the baby was on the car too). Three RAF regiment guys were shot to death in their car in Roermond, a place we regularly visited. And also 2 Australian tourists were mistaken for servicemen and were also executed in their car. As far as I know nobody was ever brought to justice for these heinous crimes. No British servicemen and women should face trial until those murderers are brought to justice, especially for baby Ruthi.
We will remember them.

How awful. A lot of people have forgotten this era. It makes me mad when people leave unattended bags in restaurants, cafes etc. We always report it to staff and they look at us as if to say 'So what?'

Oh and my cousin a police officer was killed in the Harrods bombing.

I don't remember the B'hm one very well but lived in London all through the IRA bombings. I lived in South Ken when the Barracks was bombed and the horse killed. I was away that week on a training course and had to phone home to let parents know I wasn't there.

I was in an office in Oxford St when the Oxford St bomb killed the police officer attempting to defuse it. We had a training department in Evelyn House on the other side of the road.

I spent many, many hours stuck on hot, airless tube trains. I used to walk to and from work in Tottenham Court Road the length of Oxford Street and it was hair-raising never knowing if the shop window would blow out as you passed by.

I can't really remember the Birmingham pub bombings, but can remember some of the IRA bombing campaigns in the eighties like the Harrods bomb and the one they let off during a militaty band concert that killed 9 people. I'm glad this era seems to have passed as you were always on edge going to London then

I remember it well and was 10 years old. A few weeks later I went to Birmingham with my Aunty and Cousins, we went into Littlewoods for our Lunch, and just as we sat down to eat, there was a Bomb Scare, we had to leave everything and leave the building. My Aunty was most put out that she had paid and we couldn't eat. I was terrified. Think it was about 5 years on, before I went to Birmingham again.

A really horrible time we were by the SAS camp area so things were on high alert constantly. once mum and dad got caught when a store was evacuated, many were false alarms but it was still terrifying.
the Pub bombings were awful so sad. my cousin was living nearby at the time there were no phones etc at home so it took a while before we knew she was not there that night so was safe and well.
when mum went shopping in Birmingham it was a real worry

I'm glad (if that's the right word) you remember it. It was an awful time for our city.

I will never forget that awful night. I was studying at Aston University at the time and living in a hall of residence in the city centre. My flatmates and I knew something very serious had happened because of all the sirens, we were right next to the fire station. We only knew what had happened when it was on the news.
It was a very frightening time, there were suggestions that other bombs had been set around the city centre and we were scared for ourselves and worried about friends who were out in the centre that night, both pubs were popular with us students.
It was also impossible to ring home to reassure family as all public phone lines were busy. As commented above, the city was a very different place for quite some time.
My heart goes out to all those bereaved or injured and to those who were involved in the aftermath.

I can remember another vile IRA attack on an RAF sergeant's car in Germany that killed his baby daughter.. It;s even more sickening when you had people like Jeremy Corbyn going to IRA funerals and John Mc Donnell calling them freedom fighters.

I recall it only too well Kate1949 and thank you for raising it in memory of those lost. My fiancé and I knew the pub well though we didn’t live in Birmingham we’d been there often, being just a 15 minute train trip away. A day and evening in Brum was a big treat. The shock and horror lasted a long time. So did the shame of being Irish, it made you feel tainted somehow; that took a long time to shake off. Our wedding was soon after, with members my family coming from Ireland for the wedding. It was like a big shadow hanging over everything. And of course, 16 years of a life sentence served by the wrong people which was tragic for them and their families.

There was a lovely service here in Birmingham on the anniversary this week. It was at Grand Central Station where there is a memorial to the victims. The Duchess of Edinburgh attended and spoke, as did the Irish Ambassador. A man spoke whose father was killed in the bombings whilst his mother was pregnant with him. 21 white roses were placed on the memorial by relatives of the deceased. Very moving.

I was in the Army then in Aldershot.My future husband lived in Birmingham.The day after the bombings an Army friend drove me up to Birmingham,she dropped me off by the now Holiday Inn,the city centre was deserted.

Scary times to be in the Army,will never forget all the bombings.

I was studying at Sheffield Uni and went with my boyfriend visit his parents. We were in The Tavern in the Town a few days before the bomb. I remember having my handbag searched on the way in. Why did Tony Blair's government give the IRA terrorists protection from any further prosecution? Why are British soldiers still being considered for prosecution for doing a very dangerous role during the 'troubles'? Sorry my wording is clumsy. but hopefully some will understand what I am trying to say.

I was heading off to take my three oldest children to Harrods toy department at Christmas when the car bomb there went off in 1983. We weren't that far away and did hear a distant boom. We could so easily have been there and the store was not fully cleared before it went off.
It wasn't at all unusual to be evacuated from a store in those days, or to be stuck in an Underground tunnel for ages whilst a suspicious package or a telephone warning was investigated. It went on for so many years that we became used to it, possibly too used to it for safely.

My friends and I were in town that night as we quite often went into Brum. We started off at the Mulberry Bush which was at the bottom of the rotunda, we went on to the Tavern in the town, but got a bit fed up and went on to a pub called The Royal Mail. Thank God we did as about half an hour later the bombs exploded. We didn’t hang around as we knew our parents would be worried sick. My mum was waiting at the bus stop and she was so relieved to see us. I was also in town when the front of the shoe shop Freeman Hardy Willis blew up. I was coming down the ramp from New Street Station and it was most peculiar as the glass seemed to get sucked in before it all blew out.

Also those two little boys killed in Warrington after those cowards put a bomb in a litter bin.

I was in primary school in the West Midlands at the time and remember this. I also remember being regularly evacuated from our C of E school regularly due to bomb scares. The teachers actually used to go in the buildings and have a scout round for anything suspicious.

My husband was in the Odeon cinema nextdoor when he heard the bomb. He left his then girlfriend there and went and started to get people out. I think he had PTSD, he was watching Planet of the Apes at the time and he couldn't even listen to the opening music from it without demanding the TV was turned off.

He said it was pitch black and the people in the pub couldn't hear him when he was trying to help as the blast had blown their ear drums.

I can remember another cowardly attack by the IRA in 1990 when three off duty soldiers in Lichfield were followed by a so called active service unt of the IRA and gunned down in a railway station in front of terrified passengers. Also around the same time, a Royal Navy recruiter in the Midlands was killed by a car bomb. Like the pub bombings in Birmingham, these were typical of the cowardly attacks by the IRA.
I've never ever seen the IRA as freedom fighters or some kind of romantic Irish thing. To me, they're terrorists and cowards who tended to attack innocent civilians and off duty servicemen. When the SAS blew them away in Gibraltar and at a roadblock in Northern Ireland the same year, it was like killing off a mad dog.

I was commuting from New St Station at the time, there were always police and sniffer dogs around.
I used to go down to the end of my platform and wait for the train. I reckoned it was safer than inside the station area.

There is a BBC documentary on this. I remember those times too but I'm not from Birmingham.

I haven't watched it yet but will now having seen this post.

Hard to believe it was 50 years ago

I remember this very well. I lived about 4 miles from Birmingham City centre and we heard the thumps of the explosion from the street. I was just 10 years old and it was a terrible time. There were a lot of reprisal attacks against innocent Irish in the aftermath, too, which were just awful.