Corporals killings

The Corporals killings took place in Belfast on Andersonstown Road near Milltown Cemetery. The victims, Derek Wood and David Howes, were British Army corporals in civilian clothes driving a silver Volkswagen Passat. Their car entered the funeral procession of IRA member Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh on 19 March 1988. The procession included black taxis and stewards from Sinn Féin and the IRA. The soldiers were dragged from their car after Corporal Wood fired a shot into the air. They were beaten, stripped and searched at Casement Park sports ground. Father Alec Reid, a Redemptorist priest, tried to protect them and later administered last rites after they were shot dead nearby. The whole attack was filmed by a British Army helicopter and news cameras. Journalist Peter Taylor described the images as some of the most dramatic and harrowing of the conflict. Two men were later sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders but were released in 1998 under the Good Friday Agreement. Photographer David Cairns took a famous picture of Father Reid giving last rites to David Howes.