https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/greysteel-massacre-30-years-on-i-saw-a-sight-no-one-would-want-to-see-it-still-feels-like-yesterday/a279710512.html
Garrett Hargan
Today at 06:41
A man, who was one of the first on the scene following the Greysteel massacre, has recalled the harrowing incident 30 years on and how he’s thankful Northern Ireland is in a “much better place”.
Andre Johnston, from Claudy, was working as a part-time taxi man on October 30, 1993, when he arrived at the Rising Sun bar to find a woman he knew had been “shot to pieces”.
“I just held her husband,” he recalled this week.
The families of the eight victims will gather in Star of the Sea, Faughanvale, today, to mark the 30th anniversary.
The small, tightly knit Co Derry village of Greysteel, was rocked by what was viewed as one of the most heinous atrocities of the Troubles, which took place the night before Halloween.
Shortly before 10pm, two masked loyalist gunmen carried out the attack with an assault rifle and pistol. A third gunman, armed with a sawn-off shotgun, stood guard outside the bar.
Six of the victims were Catholics and two were from the Protestant community. They were young and old, from 19-year-old hairdresser Karen Thompson to 82-year-old construction worker James Moore.
One of the gunmen was heard shouting “trick or treat, you b*******” before he fired into the crowded bar. When the magazine of the assault rifle was empty, he re-loaded and continued to fire with a second magazine, according to a Police Ombudsman report.
The UDA, using the cover name of the UFF, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The UFF claimed that it had attacked the “nationalist electorate” in revenge for the Shankill Road Bombing on October 23.
The killings brought the total number of deaths during October to 27 making it the worst month for casualties in 17 years.
There was widespread condemnation in the aftermath. SDLP leader John Hume wept as he embraced a relative of one of the victims at a funeral.
It was a tragedy which he said “crystallised the senselessness of violence” in Northern Ireland.
It came at a time when Mr Hume was working tirelessly to broker a peace agreement, and receiving criticism for holding talks with Gerry Adams and the Provisional IRA which ultimately resulted in the 1994 ceasefire.
Over the years there has been a dignified silence from the families and the Greysteel community about the atrocity.
In its aftermath approximately 3,000 people attended a peace rally.
Ahead of the anniversary, Mr Johnston recalled a night which still haunts him.
At around 8.45pm he got a call to lift a fare to Ballykelly. He explained: “My fare was an elderly woman (in her pyjamas) who had lost a contact lens and wanted to go get her boyfriend to look for it.
“We headed to Ballykelly and then Limavady but no sign of him. As I was driving to Limavady, Pauline on dispatch asked me to go to the Rising Sun to lift a fare on my way back, I said I couldn’t as the woman was coming back up with me.
“Barny (Pauline’s husband) went along with Harry Riley instead of me but were lucky they were in the entrance to the bar as the gunmen went into the lounge.
“On my way back up, with the woman around 10ish, Barny came out of the bar to his car and told Pauline who replied, what? People shot in the Rising Sun.
“At this stage I was just coming into Greysteel and my first thought was to ram the car if I’d seen it with men in it.
“I pulled up outside the bar and forgot about the woman in my car. As I went inside I tried to stop people going in and saw a sight I would not want anyone to see.
“Firstly, three people dead and one injured. I then noticed a man I left down every Saturday with his wife and as I approached I realised the lady was shot to pieces. I just held her husband.
“At this stage I realised the woman was in my car and headed straight out to her.
“We headed back to Eglinton and got the woman into the house safe.
“I headed home and checked all the other drivers were safe.”
Mr Johnston also worked with his father-in-law who is a funeral director and he said nothing would happen until the morning.
The next day Mr Johnston received the call to help remove five bodies from the scene.
“We got all the remains home and spent the next few days preparing for the funerals,” he said.
Thirty years later Mr Johnston said it is something I would think about “quite regularly” and it “still feels like yesterday at times”.
He continued: “I would know a few of the families but haven’t seen them in years.
“I think Northern Ireland has moved on to an extent and is in a much better place as far as the Troubles are concerned but there will always be ones on both sides not willing to move on.
“As far as the political situation is concerned, it’s absolutely disgusting the way some parties are behaving and the way the country is left high and dry.
“I personally am living in chronic pain and need two kneecaps. I’m told it’s a five year waiting list or £12k a knee. What’s that all about and no government.”
by columboscoat
1 comment
That was a dark week.