Staff Sergeant Allan Brammah, RAOC

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KIA 18/2/74 aged 31, married. A bomb disposal expert, he died when a parcel left by the roadside at Moybane near Crossmaglen exploded. 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. 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.

Source: "Lost Lives" 2004

Allan is buried at Rosehill Cemetery, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, (pictured).

[Jock2413 Site Guardian Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

Thanks G.

We will remember them.

[Jock2413 Site Guardian Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

Ladies and Gents, if you look at the condition of Allan's gravestone, this was one of the reasons the NIVA gravewatch was started.

[On1on Association Member Find all posts View Profile Close On1on]

It's a right mess, you can hardly read it and unfortuneately the sun didn't help! I'll return another time for a better picture now I know where it is, that place is HUGE.

[Guest Close bigmal]

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[Jock2413 Site Guardian Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

The size of some of those cemeteries, its a flask and snap tin job.

[Guest Close brianww]

Firstly let me say a big thank you to you onion,for putting the link from raoc online to this great site. On the 3rd november 1973 I was a green 18 year old RAOC pte fresh out of a 2week EOD training course,and on my way to Lurgan to be a driver and number 2 to the ats at 321 eod. The first person i encountered was a very stern faced s/sgt called Brammah,who promptly made me sign for my browning, flak jacket and a fresh set of nerves and away we went on a callout.
Now i was from a small town near Portsmouth and up untill then the furthest i had been was to Blackdown near Aldershot,so on arrival to NI it seemed a million miles from Pompey.
Over the next few months i got to know Allan very well,he became like a father and best mate, and taught me so much about soldiering in NI. I was away at a funeral on the 14th to the 19th feb 1974 on my return to 321 i was taken into the OCs office and informed about the death of Allan,needless to say it knocked me for 6, after so many near misses over the past 3 and a half months the thought of anything going wrong so near to the end of the tour never arose
Up untill i read the passage i never knew, strange as it might seem the story of his death apart from the the fact that things went wrong,you lads know yourselves what it was like in those days,we were treated as MUSHROOMS kept in the dark and fed on shite, or any details of where he was buried.Thanks to this web site i can visit his grave and bid farewell, to a soldier who gave his time to a young and very green squaddie all those years ago
God bless you s/sgt BRAMMAH and i salute you

[Jock2413 Site Guardian Find all posts View Profile Close Jock2413]

Thanks for opening up to us Brian. As you may have read, the purpose of NIVA, among other things, is commemoration and Remembrance of those who paid the ultimate price. As long as we exist, people like Allan will always be remembered and despite the efforts of an uncaring MOD, the sacrifice they made will never be forgotten.

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