Some images, once seen, can’t be removed from your memory. For myself and I’m sure many others, the sight of Father Eddie Daly (later Bishop Daly) walking half-crouched, waving a blood-soaked handkerchief, while behind him several men carry the dead or dying Jackie Duddy, a 17-year-old, remains permanent over fifty years later.
First the killing, then the lies . Brigadier Frank Kitson and Colonel Derek Wilford insisted that each of the dead had been armed. They claimed the British paratroopers fired in self defence. The Widgery Report claimed that the British soldiers had to respond “to their assailants…There is no reason to suppose that the soldiers would have opened fire if they had not been fired on first”. Decades later and after years of taking evidence the Savile Inquiry said that all of those killed were unarmed people and the then British Prime Minister delivered a complete apology for the deaths in the House of Commons.
Derry and its aftermath made a number of things clear. The British army and the British government had no hesitation in weaving a web of lies, blaming the victims. It was only after huge pressure and years of hearing evidence that the truth was conceded. But despite their obvious guilt, which could have been established decades earlier, not a single British soldier has been imprisoned for their disgusting assault on the lives of Irish people.
No wonder Bernadette Devlin attacked Reggie Maudling in the House of Commons shortly after. Why? “He was responsible for the murder of thirteen people”. Maudling wasn’t sent to prison either. The very thought would have opened up an appalling vista.
Never forgive, Never forget. God rest them
bloody Sunday. We will never forget the silence of Derry.
RIEP The Murdered Derry 13.