1979 Assassination of Lord Mountbatten
35 years ago, on August 27, 1979, Earl Louis Mountbatten of Burma, former First Sea Lord, Fleet Admiral, World War II hero, was killed by an IRA radio-controlled bomb on his yacht off the coast of Ireland. In total, four people died from the explosion, including two children. Sinn Féin called Mountbatten's murder an "execution" designed to draw public attention to the "British occupation of Northern Ireland". The terrorist who planted the bomb, Thomas McMahon, was arrested.