A MEMORIAL commemorating the five victims of an IRA attack in Coventry that struck just days before the break out of World War II has been erected in the city.
The attack took place on August 25, 1939 and also left 70 people injured when a bicycle bomb exploded in the city centre’s Broadgate area.
The memorial for the victims (Photo: Coventry City Council/Twitter)Coventry City Council organised the funding of the memorial, which was unveiled on Wednesday, October 14, with relatives of the victims in attendance.
Elsie Ansell, 21, John Corbett Arnott, 15, James Clay, 82, Rex Gentle, 30, and Gwilym Rowlands, 50, lost their lives in the tragedy.
Their names have been etched into a plaque on Unity Lawn at Coventry Cathedral.
White roses, one for each of the victims, were left on the memorial stone in honour of their memory.
The bombing was part of a string of IRA attacks on English cities – known as the S Plan - which was overshadowed by the break out of World War TII nine days later.
Two Irish men Peter Barnes and James McCormick, who was using the alias Richards, were convicted for the bombing, sentenced to death and executed.
McCormick had purchased the bike from Halfords and stored the explosives at a house on Clara Street, before Barnes took them to Coventry by train.
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