KINGSMILLS - PERSONAL MEMORIES FORTY YEARS ON
By Danny Kennedy MLA
"This week marks the fortieth anniversary of the Kingsmills massacre - the slaughter of ten innocent Protestant workmen, who came mostly from my home village of Bessbrook in South Armagh.
"At the time I was aged 16, living with my parents in the centre of Bessbrook, a pupil at Newry High School and part time paperboy in the family newsagent and confectionery business. I knew nine of the victims, and the two survivors - Alan Black, seriously injured and horribly scarred for life, and Richard Hughes the sole Roman Catholic, totally innocent, who was ordered by the IRA killers to run for his life from the scene.
"I remember hearing the first reports of the atrocity on the BBC NI news bulletin just before 7pm on the Monday evening. News spread quickly through the village and families gathered at Daisy Hill Hospital preparing for the worst. Local clergy were called to give pastoral comfort and support.
"By early the next day as the media began to descend on Bessbrook the grim reality set in. The victims were all well known in the village and hinterland, but the scale of the killings and the enormity of the loss just overwhelmed Bessbrook. We had lived through the early part of "The Troubles" in South Armagh but nothing like this had either been anticipated or expected.
"I remember visiting some of the homes of the victims with my father. I saw heavily marked remains of men I knew well, liked and respected. Many of the victims coffins remained closed because of the terrible mutilation inflicted.
"The funerals all took place on one day. From early afternoon to late evening, the remains were brought to the two main Protestant Churches in the village - Presbyterian and Church of Ireland. In silence many hundreds followed the corteges through the village streets, the eerie echoing footsteps the only sound of a hushed and stunned people.
"In my memory's eye I can still see the uncontrollable grief of families whose loved ones had been so cruelly taken - sons, husbands, fathers - decent hardworking men, innocent of the political ambitions of Republicanism yet made victims in “the struggle to free Ireland".
"The following day the funeral services took place. It poured. The tears of Bessbrook flowed. Kingsmills changed the Quaker "Model Village" forever. The days following were nearly worse - the media had moved on, other incidents and events dominated the news, Bessbrook was left to deal with the aftermath.
"The impact on the Protestant community in the village and surrounding area was profound and is felt to this day. Many younger people moved away, a combination of fear and uncertainty. And yet, somehow the principles of the Quaker founding fathers of Bessbrook held firm. Community relations were not damaged beyond repair, bitterness was not permitted to overcome or overwhelm.
"To many, this is a day of painful memory, as indeed each day of these long forty years has been. We owe it to the memory of those who were so cruelly murdered, and to those who have had to continue to live with the terrible consequences of that night, never to forget the story of Kingsmills."
The Kingsmills Victims’
John Bryans
Robert Chambers
Reginald Chapman
Walter Chapman
Robert Freeburn
Joseph Lemmon
John McConville
James McWhirter
Robert Walker
Kenneth Worton
A memorial service to mark the fortieth anniversary of Kingsmills is planned to take place on Sunday 24th January 2016 at Bessbrook Town Hall at 3.00pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.