Doncaster soldier killed by IRA bomb remembered nearly 50 years on from tragedy

Tributes have been paid to a Doncaster soldier on the anniversary of his death by an IRA bomb nearly 50 years ago today.
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Staff Sergeant Allan Brammah was killed by a roadside parcel bomb in Northern Ireland on February 18, 1974 at the height of The Troubles.

Comrades have paid their respects to SS Brammah who was 31 when he died in the blast in Moybane, near Crossmaglen, County Armagh. ​

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A bomb disposal expert and a member of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, the soldier from Hatfield is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Doncaster and was given a posthumous Mention in Despatches​.

Staff Seregant Allan Brammah was murdered by an IRA bomb.Staff Seregant Allan Brammah was murdered by an IRA bomb.
Staff Seregant Allan Brammah was murdered by an IRA bomb.

​The booby trap bomb was hidden inside a parcel, left at the side of the road and designed to kill members of the British Army who were on patrol in the area at the time.

​A soldier told the inquest that he and two other soldiers were checking devices in fields following a series of bomb explosions in the area the previous day.​

​He said they found a length of wire which they traced across two fields to the side of the road. There they saw a sod of earth of a different colour to the rest of the grass. The staff sergeant lifted one corner of the sod and saw a neat white package.​

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​He replaced it and they all walked away for about six yards.

S/Sgt Brammah returned, went down on both knees and lifted another corner of the sod. There was then an explosion that killed him instantly. Less than two hours after, around six gunmen fired between 500 and 600 shots across the border at troops.