<\/p>\n
<p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p><\/noscript><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\nThe IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance<\/h1>\nBy Richard Pendlebury<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\nTwo weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 in Northern Ireland. <\/span><\/p>\nIt happened 25 years ago on Wednesday, March\u00a0 19, 1988, when two British soldiers in plain clothes \u2014 Corporals David Wood and\u00a0 Derek Howes of the Royals Corps of Signals \u2014 blundered into the funeral cortege\u00a0 of an IRA man who had been killed in a loyalist attack on another paramilitary\u00a0 funeral.<\/span><\/p>\nInitially mistaken for loyalist terrorists\u00a0 and trapped in their car, they were dragged out in front of the world\u2019s press\u00a0 and viciously beaten in nearby Casement Park. Minutes later they were executed\u00a0 as suspected SAS members. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nBrutality: Catholic priest Father Alec Reid administers\u00a0 the last rights to Corporal David Howes, one of two British soldiers brutally\u00a0 beaten and murdered in Belfast 25 years ago<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAlthough armed, they did not fire on the\u00a0 civilian mob, and faced their deaths with forbearance. The killings were\u00a0 compared to the Crucifixion.<\/span><\/p>\nMy article threw new light on what the\u00a0 corporals were doing in Northern Ireland \u2014 acting as support staff for\u00a0 undercover surveillance soldiers \u2014 and why they were not rescued. <\/span><\/p>\nCatholic priest Alec Reid, who tried to save\u00a0 them, had spoken for the first time about the terrible events. Also breaking a\u00a0 quarter-century silence, Corporal Howes\u2019s father asked for the Army to tell the\u00a0 truth about the episode.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nMore…<\/h4>\n\nSaudi\u00a0 Arabia beheads murderer… and then CRUCIFIES his body<\/a><\/li>\nFrom\u00a0 a mother’s tears at Paddington to gravestone-jumping street urchins of Glasgow’s\u00a0 slums: Striking images of celebrated WWII photographer Bert Hardy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\nThe piece attracted a powerful response.\u00a0 One\u00a0 soldier, who was on duty in Ulster that day, recalled how his unit had\u00a0 begged to be allowed to go the soldiers\u2019 aid but been refused \u2014 apparently to\u00a0 avoid inflaming the situation. He said of the soldiers: \u2018They were just left to\u00a0 die.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBut the most unexpected and\u00a0 extraordinary\u00a0 reaction came from a Catholic woman who was then living in a\u00a0 hard-line Republican area. <\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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By Richard Pendlebury<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\nTwo weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 in Northern Ireland. <\/span><\/p>\nIt happened 25 years ago on Wednesday, March\u00a0 19, 1988, when two British soldiers in plain clothes \u2014 Corporals David Wood and\u00a0 Derek Howes of the Royals Corps of Signals \u2014 blundered into the funeral cortege\u00a0 of an IRA man who had been killed in a loyalist attack on another paramilitary\u00a0 funeral.<\/span><\/p>\nInitially mistaken for loyalist terrorists\u00a0 and trapped in their car, they were dragged out in front of the world\u2019s press\u00a0 and viciously beaten in nearby Casement Park. Minutes later they were executed\u00a0 as suspected SAS members. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nBrutality: Catholic priest Father Alec Reid administers\u00a0 the last rights to Corporal David Howes, one of two British soldiers brutally\u00a0 beaten and murdered in Belfast 25 years ago<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAlthough armed, they did not fire on the\u00a0 civilian mob, and faced their deaths with forbearance. The killings were\u00a0 compared to the Crucifixion.<\/span><\/p>\nMy article threw new light on what the\u00a0 corporals were doing in Northern Ireland \u2014 acting as support staff for\u00a0 undercover surveillance soldiers \u2014 and why they were not rescued. <\/span><\/p>\nCatholic priest Alec Reid, who tried to save\u00a0 them, had spoken for the first time about the terrible events. Also breaking a\u00a0 quarter-century silence, Corporal Howes\u2019s father asked for the Army to tell the\u00a0 truth about the episode.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nMore…<\/h4>\n\nSaudi\u00a0 Arabia beheads murderer… and then CRUCIFIES his body<\/a><\/li>\nFrom\u00a0 a mother’s tears at Paddington to gravestone-jumping street urchins of Glasgow’s\u00a0 slums: Striking images of celebrated WWII photographer Bert Hardy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\nThe piece attracted a powerful response.\u00a0 One\u00a0 soldier, who was on duty in Ulster that day, recalled how his unit had\u00a0 begged to be allowed to go the soldiers\u2019 aid but been refused \u2014 apparently to\u00a0 avoid inflaming the situation. He said of the soldiers: \u2018They were just left to\u00a0 die.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBut the most unexpected and\u00a0 extraordinary\u00a0 reaction came from a Catholic woman who was then living in a\u00a0 hard-line Republican area. <\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 in Northern Ireland. <\/span><\/p>\nIt happened 25 years ago on Wednesday, March\u00a0 19, 1988, when two British soldiers in plain clothes \u2014 Corporals David Wood and\u00a0 Derek Howes of the Royals Corps of Signals \u2014 blundered into the funeral cortege\u00a0 of an IRA man who had been killed in a loyalist attack on another paramilitary\u00a0 funeral.<\/span><\/p>\nInitially mistaken for loyalist terrorists\u00a0 and trapped in their car, they were dragged out in front of the world\u2019s press\u00a0 and viciously beaten in nearby Casement Park. Minutes later they were executed\u00a0 as suspected SAS members. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nBrutality: Catholic priest Father Alec Reid administers\u00a0 the last rights to Corporal David Howes, one of two British soldiers brutally\u00a0 beaten and murdered in Belfast 25 years ago<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAlthough armed, they did not fire on the\u00a0 civilian mob, and faced their deaths with forbearance. The killings were\u00a0 compared to the Crucifixion.<\/span><\/p>\nMy article threw new light on what the\u00a0 corporals were doing in Northern Ireland \u2014 acting as support staff for\u00a0 undercover surveillance soldiers \u2014 and why they were not rescued. <\/span><\/p>\nCatholic priest Alec Reid, who tried to save\u00a0 them, had spoken for the first time about the terrible events. Also breaking a\u00a0 quarter-century silence, Corporal Howes\u2019s father asked for the Army to tell the\u00a0 truth about the episode.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nMore…<\/h4>\n\nSaudi\u00a0 Arabia beheads murderer… and then CRUCIFIES his body<\/a><\/li>\nFrom\u00a0 a mother’s tears at Paddington to gravestone-jumping street urchins of Glasgow’s\u00a0 slums: Striking images of celebrated WWII photographer Bert Hardy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\nThe piece attracted a powerful response.\u00a0 One\u00a0 soldier, who was on duty in Ulster that day, recalled how his unit had\u00a0 begged to be allowed to go the soldiers\u2019 aid but been refused \u2014 apparently to\u00a0 avoid inflaming the situation. He said of the soldiers: \u2018They were just left to\u00a0 die.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBut the most unexpected and\u00a0 extraordinary\u00a0 reaction came from a Catholic woman who was then living in a\u00a0 hard-line Republican area. <\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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It happened 25 years ago on Wednesday, March\u00a0 19, 1988, when two British soldiers in plain clothes \u2014 Corporals David Wood and\u00a0 Derek Howes of the Royals Corps of Signals \u2014 blundered into the funeral cortege\u00a0 of an IRA man who had been killed in a loyalist attack on another paramilitary\u00a0 funeral.<\/span><\/p>\nInitially mistaken for loyalist terrorists\u00a0 and trapped in their car, they were dragged out in front of the world\u2019s press\u00a0 and viciously beaten in nearby Casement Park. Minutes later they were executed\u00a0 as suspected SAS members. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nBrutality: Catholic priest Father Alec Reid administers\u00a0 the last rights to Corporal David Howes, one of two British soldiers brutally\u00a0 beaten and murdered in Belfast 25 years ago<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAlthough armed, they did not fire on the\u00a0 civilian mob, and faced their deaths with forbearance. The killings were\u00a0 compared to the Crucifixion.<\/span><\/p>\nMy article threw new light on what the\u00a0 corporals were doing in Northern Ireland \u2014 acting as support staff for\u00a0 undercover surveillance soldiers \u2014 and why they were not rescued. <\/span><\/p>\nCatholic priest Alec Reid, who tried to save\u00a0 them, had spoken for the first time about the terrible events. Also breaking a\u00a0 quarter-century silence, Corporal Howes\u2019s father asked for the Army to tell the\u00a0 truth about the episode.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nMore…<\/h4>\n\nSaudi\u00a0 Arabia beheads murderer… and then CRUCIFIES his body<\/a><\/li>\nFrom\u00a0 a mother’s tears at Paddington to gravestone-jumping street urchins of Glasgow’s\u00a0 slums: Striking images of celebrated WWII photographer Bert Hardy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\nThe piece attracted a powerful response.\u00a0 One\u00a0 soldier, who was on duty in Ulster that day, recalled how his unit had\u00a0 begged to be allowed to go the soldiers\u2019 aid but been refused \u2014 apparently to\u00a0 avoid inflaming the situation. He said of the soldiers: \u2018They were just left to\u00a0 die.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBut the most unexpected and\u00a0 extraordinary\u00a0 reaction came from a Catholic woman who was then living in a\u00a0 hard-line Republican area. <\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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Initially mistaken for loyalist terrorists\u00a0 and trapped in their car, they were dragged out in front of the world\u2019s press\u00a0 and viciously beaten in nearby Casement Park. Minutes later they were executed\u00a0 as suspected SAS members. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nBrutality: Catholic priest Father Alec Reid administers\u00a0 the last rights to Corporal David Howes, one of two British soldiers brutally\u00a0 beaten and murdered in Belfast 25 years ago<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAlthough armed, they did not fire on the\u00a0 civilian mob, and faced their deaths with forbearance. The killings were\u00a0 compared to the Crucifixion.<\/span><\/p>\nMy article threw new light on what the\u00a0 corporals were doing in Northern Ireland \u2014 acting as support staff for\u00a0 undercover surveillance soldiers \u2014 and why they were not rescued. <\/span><\/p>\nCatholic priest Alec Reid, who tried to save\u00a0 them, had spoken for the first time about the terrible events. Also breaking a\u00a0 quarter-century silence, Corporal Howes\u2019s father asked for the Army to tell the\u00a0 truth about the episode.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nMore…<\/h4>\n\nSaudi\u00a0 Arabia beheads murderer… and then CRUCIFIES his body<\/a><\/li>\nFrom\u00a0 a mother’s tears at Paddington to gravestone-jumping street urchins of Glasgow’s\u00a0 slums: Striking images of celebrated WWII photographer Bert Hardy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\nThe piece attracted a powerful response.\u00a0 One\u00a0 soldier, who was on duty in Ulster that day, recalled how his unit had\u00a0 begged to be allowed to go the soldiers\u2019 aid but been refused \u2014 apparently to\u00a0 avoid inflaming the situation. He said of the soldiers: \u2018They were just left to\u00a0 die.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBut the most unexpected and\u00a0 extraordinary\u00a0 reaction came from a Catholic woman who was then living in a\u00a0 hard-line Republican area. <\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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Although armed, they did not fire on the\u00a0 civilian mob, and faced their deaths with forbearance. The killings were\u00a0 compared to the Crucifixion.<\/span><\/p>\nMy article threw new light on what the\u00a0 corporals were doing in Northern Ireland \u2014 acting as support staff for\u00a0 undercover surveillance soldiers \u2014 and why they were not rescued. <\/span><\/p>\nCatholic priest Alec Reid, who tried to save\u00a0 them, had spoken for the first time about the terrible events. Also breaking a\u00a0 quarter-century silence, Corporal Howes\u2019s father asked for the Army to tell the\u00a0 truth about the episode.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nMore…<\/h4>\n\nSaudi\u00a0 Arabia beheads murderer… and then CRUCIFIES his body<\/a><\/li>\nFrom\u00a0 a mother’s tears at Paddington to gravestone-jumping street urchins of Glasgow’s\u00a0 slums: Striking images of celebrated WWII photographer Bert Hardy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\nThe piece attracted a powerful response.\u00a0 One\u00a0 soldier, who was on duty in Ulster that day, recalled how his unit had\u00a0 begged to be allowed to go the soldiers\u2019 aid but been refused \u2014 apparently to\u00a0 avoid inflaming the situation. He said of the soldiers: \u2018They were just left to\u00a0 die.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBut the most unexpected and\u00a0 extraordinary\u00a0 reaction came from a Catholic woman who was then living in a\u00a0 hard-line Republican area. <\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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My article threw new light on what the\u00a0 corporals were doing in Northern Ireland \u2014 acting as support staff for\u00a0 undercover surveillance soldiers \u2014 and why they were not rescued. <\/span><\/p>\nCatholic priest Alec Reid, who tried to save\u00a0 them, had spoken for the first time about the terrible events. Also breaking a\u00a0 quarter-century silence, Corporal Howes\u2019s father asked for the Army to tell the\u00a0 truth about the episode.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nMore…<\/h4>\n\nSaudi\u00a0 Arabia beheads murderer… and then CRUCIFIES his body<\/a><\/li>\nFrom\u00a0 a mother’s tears at Paddington to gravestone-jumping street urchins of Glasgow’s\u00a0 slums: Striking images of celebrated WWII photographer Bert Hardy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\nThe piece attracted a powerful response.\u00a0 One\u00a0 soldier, who was on duty in Ulster that day, recalled how his unit had\u00a0 begged to be allowed to go the soldiers\u2019 aid but been refused \u2014 apparently to\u00a0 avoid inflaming the situation. He said of the soldiers: \u2018They were just left to\u00a0 die.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBut the most unexpected and\u00a0 extraordinary\u00a0 reaction came from a Catholic woman who was then living in a\u00a0 hard-line Republican area. <\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Catholic priest Alec Reid, who tried to save\u00a0 them, had spoken for the first time about the terrible events. Also breaking a\u00a0 quarter-century silence, Corporal Howes\u2019s father asked for the Army to tell the\u00a0 truth about the episode.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nMore…<\/h4>\n\nSaudi\u00a0 Arabia beheads murderer… and then CRUCIFIES his body<\/a><\/li>\nFrom\u00a0 a mother’s tears at Paddington to gravestone-jumping street urchins of Glasgow’s\u00a0 slums: Striking images of celebrated WWII photographer Bert Hardy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\nThe piece attracted a powerful response.\u00a0 One\u00a0 soldier, who was on duty in Ulster that day, recalled how his unit had\u00a0 begged to be allowed to go the soldiers\u2019 aid but been refused \u2014 apparently to\u00a0 avoid inflaming the situation. He said of the soldiers: \u2018They were just left to\u00a0 die.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBut the most unexpected and\u00a0 extraordinary\u00a0 reaction came from a Catholic woman who was then living in a\u00a0 hard-line Republican area. <\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The piece attracted a powerful response.\u00a0 One\u00a0 soldier, who was on duty in Ulster that day, recalled how his unit had\u00a0 begged to be allowed to go the soldiers\u2019 aid but been refused \u2014 apparently to\u00a0 avoid inflaming the situation. He said of the soldiers: \u2018They were just left to\u00a0 die.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBut the most unexpected and\u00a0 extraordinary\u00a0 reaction came from a Catholic woman who was then living in a\u00a0 hard-line Republican area. <\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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But the most unexpected and\u00a0 extraordinary\u00a0 reaction came from a Catholic woman who was then living in a\u00a0 hard-line Republican area. <\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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Nuala Cassidy, as I will call her, lost her\u00a0 father to The Troubles, and her family was terrorised by\u00a0 paramilitaries\u00a0 from both sides. Her mother was a witness to the corporals\u2019 lynching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nDesperation: Corporal Wood, with a gun in his hand, is\u00a0 pictured moments before he was dragged from his car by members of the crowd<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Nuala was so horrified \u2014 and moved \u2014 by her\u00a0 mother\u2019s account that in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance of\u00a0 sectarian prejudice, she named her first child after the two slaughtered\u00a0\u00a0 soldiers. <\/span><\/p>\nShe has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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She has now told me: \u2018As an Irish Catholic, I\u00a0 am so very proud of them. They taught me the meaning\u00a0 of true Englishmen.\u00a0 They were strong, brave, honourable men who gave their lives for those who\u00a0 killed them.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nToday, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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Today, in an open letter to Corporal Howes\u2019s\u00a0 father, she writes of the indelible mark left on her own life by the atrocity. <\/span><\/p>\nShe does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
She does not want to use her real name, as\u00a0 many members of her family still live in and around nationalist areas of\u00a0 Belfast. There is a kind of peace now \u2014 but the scars have yet to fully\u00a0 heal.<\/span><\/p>\nRichard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Richard\u00a0 Pendlebury<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nDear Mr Howes, <\/span><\/h2>\nFor 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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For 25 years I have so wanted to get in touch\u00a0 with you but I was afraid to, in case contact by a stranger with my background \u2014 a working-class Roman Catholic from Belfast \u2014 would upset your family and that\u00a0 of Corporal Derek Wood.<\/span><\/p>\nAlso, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Also, if the IRA had found out, my life would\u00a0 have been over. These days I don\u2019t fear them as much. I don\u2019t think I ever\u00a0 really did, for myself. It was more being scared of how a \u2018mistake\u2019 on my part\u00a0 would impact on my family. We had already been through enough, as I will\u00a0 explain.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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But Easter Week is a good time to reach\u00a0 out. <\/span><\/p>\nMaybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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Maybe first I should tell you a little bit\u00a0 about myself. I was born in Belfast at the very start of \u2018The Troubles\u2019. I\u00a0 wasn\u2019t so very\u00a0 different in age to your son David. A few years younger.\u00a0 What set me apart from most of those around me was that my Catholic mother had\u00a0 fallen in love with a Protestant man. I was the result, and as they weren\u2019t\u00a0 married I am the proverbial you-know-what. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nIRA man: Alex Murphy being led into Belfast city\u00a0 Magistrates’ Court. He was jailed for life for the murder alongside Harry\u00a0 Maguire, but the two were released under the Good Friday Agreement<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAt first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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At first we all lived together as a family in\u00a0 a Catholic enclave, which was also an IRA stronghold. But my dad was considered\u00a0 an outsider, given his religion, so \u2018they\u2019 came for him one night and he was\u00a0 warned to stay away from the area. <\/span><\/p>\nHe found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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He found lodgings on the [Protestant]\u00a0 Shankill Road, and sometimes Mom and I stayed over with him. <\/span> One summer\u2019s day in the early\u00a0 Seventies, out of\u00a0 the blue he came to visit us. The week before, Mom had found out she was\u00a0 pregnant again. There was talk about us all moving to the city where Dad was\u00a0 from. <\/span><\/p>\nBut Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
But Mom was horrified by his visit. She knew\u00a0 he wasn\u2019t safe, as he had been threatened to stay away \u2018or else\u2019 by the IRA as\u00a0 recently as March.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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In our neighbourhood, everyone was watching\u00a0 everyone. And my\u00a0 parents\u2019 relationship was strained enough \u2014 through being\u00a0 forced to live apart. Mom asked Dad to leave the area, promising they would talk\u00a0 another time, somewhere more safe.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\nAccount: Father Reid spoke out about his attempts to\u00a0 save the two soldiers for the first time this week<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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The next thing she knew, my dad had been\u00a0 murdered.<\/span><\/p>\nNo one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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No one claimed responsibility for his death\u00a0 but it was likely a loyalist killing, given he was found in one of the spots\u00a0 where the notorious Shankill Butchers gang [thought to have killed at least 30\u00a0 people] used to dump their victims. My father had been shot.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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After that, my mother \u2014 who\u2019d loved across\u00a0 the sectarian divide \u2014 just wanted to get on with her life without interference.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to be involved with any paramilitary or political\u00a0 activities. <\/span><\/p>\nBut every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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But every week, Republicans in our area\u00a0 collected house-to-house for the Prisoners\u2019 Relief Fund. Every time an IRA \u2018volunteer\u2019 was killed, they collected more money. My mother never contributed\u00a0 anything, and that drew the worst kind of attention to us.<\/span><\/p>\nIn our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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In our neighbourhood, there was a group of\u00a0 men who terrorised people and thought they were untouchable. My mom wouldn\u2019t let\u00a0 her house be used for IRA operations, and it all went from there \u2014 stone-throwing at the house and my family, following us, threatening and beating\u00a0 us. As\u00a0 a teenager, I got into trouble for\u00a0 hitting a girl who had\u00a0 threatened\u00a0 my mother.<\/span><\/p>\nOur mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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Our mistake was to try and stand up for\u00a0 ourselves. I can\u2019t in a few words describe how difficult it was, and still is.\u00a0 It would take an entire book.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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And so to that terrible day 25 years ago\u2026\u2009I\u00a0 will never\u00a0 forget it. It was a Saturday. I was unemployed but was out\u00a0 doing some work at an old people\u2019s home. There were no buses that day and my mom\u00a0 was trying to get by foot to Poleglass [a district in the west of the city],\u00a0 where my Granda lived. <\/span><\/p>\nTo do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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To do so she had to walk along the same route\u00a0 as the funeral cortege \u2014 which was heading along the\u00a0 Andersonstown Road to\u00a0 Milltown Cemetery \u2014 but in the opposite direction. Only just before she saw the\u00a0 procession did it dawn on her that something strange was going on. Men wearing\u00a0 earpieces were checking under cars for bombs. <\/span><\/p>\nShe was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
She was walking past Casement Park [a large\u00a0 Gaelic games stadium on the Andersonstown Road], keeping her head down, when\u00a0 suddenly she heard people screaming: \u2018The Brits are in, they\u2019re going to kill\u00a0 us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLoyalist Michael Stone attacked people attending a\u00a0 funeral of IRA members at Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, in a ‘revenge\u00a0 attack’<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOut of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. 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padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Out of nowhere the car containing your son\u00a0 and Corporal Wood had blundered into the cortege, and within seconds had become\u00a0 trapped. Everyone was screaming and shouting. A crowd surged towards the car. I\u00a0 think their initial reaction was one of pure fear, caused by the deadly attack\u00a0 in Milltown Cemetery a few days earlier by the loyalist gunman Michael Stone. He\u00a0 had killed three mourners at the funeral of the IRA gang shot dead on\u00a0 Gibraltar. <\/span><\/p>\nMom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Mom tried to get away but she became stuck\u00a0 where she was. To\u00a0 her everlasting regret, she saw most of what\u00a0 followed.<\/span> As your son\u2019s car was\u00a0 surrounded, other people near my mom were fighting off the watching press. She\u00a0 recalls there was a photographer from the Belfast Telegraph. Some wee runt took\u00a0 his camera off him and shoved him about. <\/span><\/p>\nMom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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Mom shouted over: \u2018Leave him alone, it\u2019s\u00a0 Stanley Matchett from the Telegraph [a well-known figure in the local press].\u2019 The fella was quite abusive back to her.<\/span><\/p>\nThen there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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Then there was a single gunshot [Wood fired\u00a0 once into the air in an effort to disperse the mob]. Mom tried to move off\u00a0 again. She didn\u2019t know what was going on but surely, she thought, if they were\u00a0 attacking the mourners, the men in the car would have done more than fire a\u00a0 warning shot. She didn\u2019t understand it. <\/span> In\u00a0 the panic she found herself being moved through one of the entrance gates of\u00a0 Casement Park. She remembers a woman with a baby in a pram go into the park with\u00a0 her. Mom thought she could take refuge there until the situation in the\u00a0 street\u00a0 outside had calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSinn Fein politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams\u00a0 pictured at the funeral that was attacked by Stone<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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It was to prove no hiding place. Mom was only\u00a0 there a short time when men from the cortege dragged in the two soldiers. The\u00a0 gates to the park were then closed. The horror began.<\/span><\/p>\nMom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Mom wanted to go and help your son and his\u00a0 colleague but was afraid. She asked a man standing in the park if she could be\u00a0 allowed to leave, and he said no. She was told not to watch. <\/span><\/p>\nShe walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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She walked away a little but could not help\u00a0 but see. When relaying it to me later that day, she was able to describe\u00a0 everything in detail, from their clothes to their body movements. Mom said they\u00a0 never fought \u2014 they were still the whole time. <\/span><\/p>\nMom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Mom\u2019s been talking about the attack again\u00a0 this week. She said your son was brought in first and they laid him down on the\u00a0 ground. He was already covered in blood.<\/span><\/p>\nShe said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
She said she saw a big man with reddish hair\u00a0 being particularly cruel. He was later identified as Henry Maguire. He seemed to\u00a0 be the one in control. Maguire [later jailed for the soldiers\u2019 murder but freed\u00a0 early under the Good Friday Agreement] kept jumping on your son\u2019s head and\u00a0 kicking him.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow the murders were reported on the front page of the\u00a0 Mail on Sunday<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCorporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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Corporal Wood was next to be brought in, and\u00a0 he seemed bigger in stature. He endured the same ordeal. They never moved, cried\u00a0 or did anything. She wasn\u2019t sure but even then she thought they must be military\u00a0 with that level of discipline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nMom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Mom wondered why no one came to help them. In\u00a0 Belfast, the police are omnipresent but on that day they were nowhere to be\u00a0 seen. Why didn\u2019t the Army helicopter that was directly overhead just lower\u00a0 itself closer to distract the attackers until help arrived? All those unanswered\u00a0 questions.<\/span><\/p>\nThe attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The attack seemed to go on for a long time\u00a0 but the gang then threw the soldiers over the wall before\u00a0 taking them to\u00a0 some spare ground behind a shop on Penny Lane.<\/span><\/p>\nMom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Mom didn\u2019t know what happened after that,\u00a0 until she saw it on TV. She left Casement Park as soon as she could, and as she\u00a0 was hurrying up the road, she heard the shots \u2014 she prayed for the two men as\u00a0 she walked quicker and quicker.<\/span><\/p>\nIt took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
It took so long for the security forces to\u00a0 respond. Mom had time to walk as far as the bottom of Stewartstown Road [some\u00a0 two miles] before the Army and RUC Land Rovers went screaming by.<\/span><\/p>\nMom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Mom got to my Granda\u2019s, and by that stage it\u00a0 was on the news.\u00a0 No one knew the truth, and there was a lot of fear in the\u00a0 city. <\/span><\/p>\nWhen I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
When I got home, Mom told me everything. For\u00a0 weeks she kept\u00a0 crying. She felt the most awful guilt and shame that she\u00a0 couldn\u2019t help. <\/span><\/p>\nShe\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
She\u2019d had to bury our dad. She didn\u2019t want\u00a0 someone else doing the same with their loved ones. <\/span><\/p>\nShe talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
She talked about them over and over \u2014 how\u00a0 Corporal Wood fired one shot and Corporal Howes fired none. She said that in the\u00a0 middle of them being attacked, they chose to hold back \u2014 not to hurt\u00a0 anyone.<\/span><\/p>\nThey basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
They basically sacrificed their own lives for\u00a0 those who killed them. During that time in the park, when they were attacked,\u00a0 they were the bravest soldiers England would want. We could not forget. When my\u00a0 youngest son was born a few years later, he was a little poorly and it seemed\u00a0 the right thing to do to give him the middle names \u2018Derek David\u2019 as some tribute\u00a0 to them. <\/span><\/p>\nYes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Yes, a Catholic boy from Belfast named after\u00a0 your son.<\/span><\/p>\nI know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
I know you and your family and Corporal\u00a0 Wood\u2019s family will always love them and be proud of them. I just wanted you to\u00a0 know how much people even over here remember them after all this\u00a0 time. <\/span><\/p>\nIt never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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It never once goes away, the pain or\u00a0 frustration. Every time we pass the spot, we pray. And now my\u00a0 son carries\u00a0 a little of them around.<\/span><\/p>\nWe all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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We all have our theories on what they were\u00a0 doing there. I know you haven\u2019t been told the full story. <\/span><\/p>\nPeople here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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People here were terrified after the previous\u00a0 attacks, and the Security Forces backed off so the community could self-police.\u00a0 Some people said the soldiers panicked as the cortege approached, and that is\u00a0 possible. <\/span><\/p>\nI think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
I think they were on some kind\u00a0 of\u00a0 intelligence mission when something happened to frighten them and they tried to\u00a0 leave. These men weren\u2019t rookies. Their determination to hold on to their lives\u00a0 until they were shot proved their strength.\u00a0 We could spend forever asking\u00a0 questions. All I know is that as an Irish Catholic, I am so very proud of them.\u00a0 They taught me the\u00a0 meaning of true Englishmen. <\/span><\/p>\nThey were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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They were strong, brave, honourable men who\u00a0 gave their lives for those who killed them. From the bottom of our hearts, we\u00a0 are\u00a0 eternally grateful for their bravery, and so very proud of them. We\u00a0 will never forget them.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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And what of my son who bears their\u00a0 names? <\/span><\/p>\nWhen he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
When he was still small I gave him up for\u00a0 adoption. Our life in Belfast had become too much. I felt I had no way out. I\u00a0 wanted more for him, which I could not give.<\/span><\/p>\nWe not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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We not only had been kicked around by the \u2018ra\u2019 [IRA] but our mother couldn\u2019t cope \u2014 and took it out on us. I didn\u2019t want\u00a0 my son to suffer the way my sister and I suffered.<\/span><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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I think I\u2019m a very different person now. But\u00a0 the past cannot be altered. We all bear the scars. Our sons, who have the same\u00a0 names, bear them too.<\/span><\/p>\nNuala Cassidy <\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n\n\nShare this article:<\/h3>\n\n\nFacebook<\/a><\/li>\nTwitter<\/a><\/li>\nGoogle+<\/a><\/li>\nEmail<\/a><\/li>\nOther<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/adsense\/support\/bin\/request.py?contact=abg_afc&gl=US&hideleadgen=1\">Ads\u00a0 by Google:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CrCv7V1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDvnX64UDwanZ1GXAjbcBEAEgj-_mGSgDUK6d1I0HYLuWy4PcCsgBAakCbzUgNqB7uT6oAwGqBLUBT9ATsnBc3mIGbQIq8T_bJ3cjBbO4uU_sFVnAbK0frtwJD-QjIE5Tb-Fhc_H3T0N819jZcXUlvRlg_vG07H7hmhsLGox6YnbuYVKknmc2s-EbGCaqOviq1R_QwB2dmDnre4XZBTujPQxpbZLnkYKgVxpvJCHfFqycxGrmEipF9gliM4GdvYPX4DVv4Cdzh_iGRMzNLwAZicU4ynAmictBg6dcbz7jt6QZ4YVqEo0F4KUP1WZHLIAH2e_8Iw&num=1&sig=AOD64_07qYQx4r4a80aD_vzHkS9JDzBtpg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.vugames-scotland.co.uk\/services\/cctv\">Expert\u00a0 CCTV Services vugames-scotland.co.uk<\/a>The\u00a0 CCTV Installation Experts. The Future of Security.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.googleadservices.com\/pagead\/aclk?sa=L&ai=CXacxV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpOqt_YC86uHlki-45qKBBACII_v5hkoA1Dz8YnI_f____8BYLuWy4PcCqABie3o_gPIAQGpAm81IDage7k-qAMBqgS0AU_QU4x7XN1iBm0CKvE_2yd3IwWzuLlP7BVZwGytH67cCQ_kIyBOU2_hYXPx909DfNfY2XF1Jb0ZYP7xtOx-4ZobCxqMemJ27mFSpJ5nNrPhGxgmqjr4qtUf0MAdnZg563uF2QU7oz0MaW2S55GCoFcabyQh3xasnMRq5hIqRfYJYjOBnb2D1-A1b-Anc8_4NkgU6i8AGYnFOMpwJonLQYOnXG8-47ekGeGFahKNBeClD_dEx4gGAYAH35KXAQ&num=2&cid=5GguPpdVuL0RJS81KkQI-CSN&sig=AOD64_37MsFAu1qYKBrbLrupwgOzhsY8kw&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.british-empire.co.uk\/plan\/isas.html%3Futm_source%3Dadwords%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords\">Open\u00a0 an ISA www.british-empire.co.uk<\/a>Invest\u00a0 up to \u00a310,200 each tax year with British Empire Securities<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/googleads.g.doubleclick.net\/aclk?sa=L&ai=Cwa7lV1ZVUZLnEqmjigb-yYDQDpDaz_wEyPzcnXLAjbcBEAMgj-_mGSgDUNfupsX4_____wFgu5bLg9wKyAEBqQJvNSA2oHu5PqgDAaoErwFP0EO6eFzcYgZtAirxP9sndyMFs7i5T-wVWcBsrR-u3AkP5CMgTlNv4WFz8fdPQ3zX2NlxdSW9GWD-8bTsfuGaGwsajHpidu5hUqSeZzaz4RsYJqo6-KrVH9DAHZ2YOet7hdkFO6M9DGltkueRgqBXGm8kId8WrJzEauYSKkX2CWIzgZ29g9fgNW_gJ3On-fSi_uhiAjKgnDiHckOJj0FrrNFoPuOHjJnkkG-iZ1LBgAfIxvMf&num=3&sig=AOD64_1W6_VBmEqW-mq4mhv7zt1F68pLKg&client=ca-an-dailymail&adurl=http:\/\/www.ibodyguardsdirect.com\">independent\u00a0 Bodyguards www.ibodyguardsdirect.com<\/a>Search\u00a0 by country\/city\/languages Choose who best suits your\u00a0 needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"most-read-news-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"March 1988-Wood and Howes Killings..Richard Pendlebury\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <p><img src=”http:\/\/b.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=14366613&name=news.article.2300805.the-ira-lynch-mob-murders-mothers-awesome-act-defiance.page&mo_vs_pl=we&mo_vs_pr=dm&mo_vs_ct=ar&mo_tb=0&category=news&mo_article_id=2300805&mo_article_author=richard++pendlebury&mo_article_date=20130328&mo_article_title=the+ira+lynch+mob+murders+and+one+mother%27s+awesome+act+of+defiance&mo_article_pd=20130328&mo_article_vn=5717220&mo_site=dailymail&mo_logged_in=0″ height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=”*”><\/p> The IRA lynch mob murders and one mother’s awesome act of defiance By Richard Pendlebury Two weeks ago the Mail published an article I\u00a0 wrote, about a landmark horror of \u2018The Troubles\u2019 … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1552\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; 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![\"Brutality:](\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2013\/03\/16\/article-2294241-0431CEB10000044D-834_634x376.jpg\")
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![\"Loyalist](\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2013\/03\/16\/article-2294241-18B35302000005DC-686_634x404.jpg\")
![\"Sinn](\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2013\/03\/16\/article-2294241-18B3530A000005DC-80_634x425.jpg\")
![\"How](\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2013\/03\/16\/article-2294241-0000D1FC00000CB2-623_306x439.jpg\")