{"id":2799,"date":"2014-10-14T19:02:06","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T18:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=2799"},"modified":"2014-10-19T15:07:08","modified_gmt":"2014-10-19T14:07:08","slug":"the-long-kesh-fire-40-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=2799","title":{"rendered":"The Long Kesh Fire: 40 Years On"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE LONG KESH FIRE-40 YEARS ON<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Not long before lock up\u20149:00pm\u2014on the fifteenth October 1974, we in Compound 11 became aware of a bit of a ruckus in Compound 13.\u00a0 Less than two hundred yards away, we were able to see what looked like a number of Republican prisoners attacking a small number of screws.\u00a0 The screws ran\u2014for their lives\u2014and managed to get out through the double gates to safety.\u00a0 It transpired that there had been a minor misdemeanour and the screws were there to take an IRA prisoner out to the punishment cells. The screws who had been attacked passed 11\u2014along with their fellow guards\u2014en route to the Silver City\u2014a purpose built prefabricated headquarters.\u00a0 One of the screws\u2014who hailed form Killyleagh\u2014was bleeding from a head wound.\u00a0 He told some of the guys in 11 he had been brutally attacked and that they-the screws-were getting offside and allowing the Army to take over their duties.\u00a0 Rumours abounded about what might happen next.\u00a0 What in fact did happen was that the estimated 1500 Republican prisoners ran amok\u2014carrying through on a pre planned determination to burn Long Kesh to the ground.
\nAs usual we were locked up just before nine and by then it was obvious that something \u201cbig\u201d was going to happen.\u00a0 As soon as the last padlock was fastened the screws on our compound made themselves scarce.\u00a0 We in the middle hut-all UVF\/RHC-convened immediately and under the tutelage and command of John McKeague made hasty plans.\u00a0 We were thinking worst case scenario.\u00a0 An attack from the Republican hordes where-throughout the jail-Loyalists at best numbered something short of 300-the outcome didn\u2019t bear thinking about.\u00a0 There were perhaps twenty odd of us in the middle hut at that time and we armed ourselves as best we could..bed ends..weight lifting bars\u2014table legs and went as far as making sure the Burco was filled with boiling water.\u00a0 The position of our hut in 11 meant we had a very limited view of anywhere so didn\u2019t see the first glow of fires from the bottom phase.\u00a0 However, it wasn\u2019t long before the smell of burning reached us. Almost at the same time we had a visitor to one of our hut windows.\u00a0 Fergie Robb was a Red Hand Commando serving an 8 year sentence.\u00a0 He was a resident of Compound 19..Gusty\u2019s compound..in effect-Headquarters.\u00a0 Fergie was one of those who had been tasked with relaying the news to us Loyalists in Phase 5..apart from us in 11 there were remands in 9..other sentenced men in 12 and of course the internees\/detainees in 14.\u00a0 To reach Phase 5 from Phase 6 was a commendable feat on its own and required Fergie to scale many fences to reach us.\u00a0 He appeared at the window and told us..\u201dThey\u2019re burning the camp\u201d.
\n\"\"<\/a>Fergie disappeared again-back to Headquarters no doubt.\u00a0 Almost immediately we made our own plans to break out of the hut.\u00a0 Some of the bigger guys utilised a sit up bench and set to work on the inner doors.\u00a0 No sooner had they started when we heard noises outside.\u00a0 On looking out the window we discovered that a horde of republican prisoners had already broken into our compound by busting the locks on the gates and were now outside our hut.\u00a0 I estimate there was around thirty to forty of them-all armed with weapons of some description.\u00a0 To say that we were fearful of our lives at this stage is something of an understatement.\u00a0 Amidst a commentary from one of the gang leaders about how the camp was about to be destroyed, they were also breaking open the outer sets of doors to our huts.\u00a0 McKeague went to the window.\u00a0 It transpired that the leader of the mob was the well known IRA man, Cleeky Clarke.\u00a0 In an exchange McKeague informed Cleeky that if they tried to enter our hut we were waiting for them and would fight.\u00a0 Cleeky replied that they intended us no harm but it was in our best interests to vacate the compound as the Army wouldn\u2019t be asking question when they inevitable arrived.\u00a0 He also gave assurances\u2014presumably on behalf of the IRA that no Loyalist compounds would be touched.\u00a0 They were only burning their own compounds he said.\u00a0 At that the mob disappeared.\u00a0 We came out of the hut to find absolute pandemonium.\u00a0 The rest of the UVF\/RHC personnel from the other huts grouped together out front.\u00a0 Facing 11 was the visits and beside that was a section that housed welfare huts and the Tuck Shop.\u00a0 We could clearly see that the shop had been broken into and was in the process of being looted but at that stage it wasn\u2019t alight.\u00a0 It was later to be burned but it later transpired that the looters were the Ordinary Prisoners who had broken out of Compound 15.\u00a0 On McKeague\u2019s orders we left the cage and moved to a spot in between there and the next compound-12.\u00a0 Our colleagues who were still there were in the process of coming to join us.\u00a0 So too were the remand prisoners who had made their way to us from 9\u2014two compounds away.\u00a0 As if by some form of telepathy the UDA prisoners all merged together, as did we.\u00a0 McKeague assumed overall command of our grouping and the first orders were that we must all stick together..at this stage we were unsure of how things were going to pan out and as each moment passed more and more IRA men were arriving from the bottom phase.\u00a0 Most carried weapons and a lot of them had blankets draped across their shoulders-poncho like.\u00a0 Some were also masked up.\u00a0 The tension was high.\u00a0 Within our own ranks we had guys voicing the opinion that perhaps we should go on the attack against the Republicans before the inevitable happened to us.\u00a0 The decision was taken for us all to move en bloc to the internee\u2019s cage-14.\u00a0 We gave no thoughts of trying to take belongings with us as we were under the apprehension that no Loyalist compounds would be ransacked or burned.\u00a0 How naive would that turn out to be?\u00a0 As we moved towards 14-only a couple of hundred yards away across one of the football pitches I was very aware of the groups of Republicans\u2014huddled together-staring at us and looking menacing.\u00a0 Whilst not in military formation we at least were grouped closely together and moved as one.\u00a0 We negotiated our way to 14.\u00a0 The gates were open and the cage was teeming with activity.\u00a0 Already there were people on hand offering cups of tea and seats for the older volunteers.\u00a0 In our ranks was one old gentleman-Mr. Thompson who had just been sentenced a couple of weeks previously.\u00a0 He had received 8 years for manufacturing machine guns and was a \u201cnon-aligned prisoner\u201d.\u00a0 He was around 70 years old and quite frail.\u00a0 In fact he transferred a short time after the fire and completed his sentence in Crumlin Road.\u00a0 We were left to mingle with the internees and everyone else who turned up to 14-including YP\u2019s.\u00a0 I think the theory foremost in everyone\u2019s mind was that safety in numbers was the best option.\u00a0 Many of the Nationalist YP\u2019s of course joined the ranks of IRA men.\u00a0 An interesting note here is that quite a few of the YP\u2019s were Loyalists\u2014many in the organisations but who were serving short sentences for riotous or disorderly behaviour charges.\u00a0 It was they who had ransacked the Tuck Shop and here they handed over their ill gotten gains\u2014tobacco-papers-confectionery-and drinks etc:.
\n\"\"<\/a>Rumours abounded and changed every few moments.\u00a0 The atmosphere was electric and the general feeling was that it would all end in tears..for some.\u00a0 It was obvious that the Republicans were intent on burning as much of the jail as possible.\u00a0 We could see stores and outbuildings and by now unmanned watch towers leap into flames. A memory I will always recall from that evening is of a number of the watch towers glowing red-the corrugated iron sides-before explosions ripped through them blowing them apart\u2014this was the Kosangas cylinders igniting\u2014they were used in winter for Supersers.
\nAfter an hour or so number of us..mostly RHC prisoners were instructed to form a party to go back to Compound 11 with the instruction to salvage as much stuff as possible.\u00a0 We aimed to put it into blankets and between us carry it back to 14.\u00a0 By the time we got out on to the pitch which gave us access to the next phase we could already see smoke and some flames coming from 11.\u00a0 We traversed the compound and entered through the broken front gates.\u00a0 As soon as we entered it was obvious that there would be very little to salvage.\u00a0 The huts had been totally vandalised-lockers and beds strewn all over the huts\u2014piles of belongings in the middle of the floors\u2014and they had also been set alight.\u00a0 So the promises made by senior Republicans to spare the Loyalist compounds had been reneged on within an hour.
\n\"\"<\/a>Fergie Robb<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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We trooped back to 14 to report.\u00a0 There were a number of prisoners from 19 who had turned up.\u00a0 There were senior staff officers who were there for a pow-wow but there was also a couple of \u201crunners\u201d\u2014who flew about the jail most of the night relaying information back and forward.\u00a0 The two I remember were Fergie Robb and Stevie McCrea.\u00a0 Myself and three others were called to the side by a senior internee and John McKeague.\u00a0 A Loyalist internee was a patient in the prison hospital \u2013recuperating after experiencing a heart attack and the four of us had been tasked to go and bring him safely back to 14.\u00a0 My memories of the night are, I suppose fuelled by the adrenaline and excitement.\u00a0 Despite only having a checked shirt, Wrangler jacket, jeans and DM boots, I cannot recall feeling the cold.\u00a0 The other 3 volunteers were dressed similarly.\u00a0 Lenny Murphy, Basher Bates, Michael Hegan and myself made it to the hospital compound..about half a mile away.\u00a0 Again the place was deserted\u2014eerily so and once more we gained easy access as the padlocks on the gates had been smashed.\u00a0 Once in the hospital itself we quickly found the ward.\u00a0 There crouched on a bed with a pair of striped pyjamas and a house coat was Buster Wade-a UVF detainee.\u00a0 We told him who we were although he neither knew us or us him.\u00a0 He indicated to us that there was another prisoner\u2014he was hiding down the side of an adjacent bed.\u00a0 He was an Official IRA man and was frightened that the Provies might harm him.\u00a0 I remember his first name\u2014Jimmy\u2014but cannot recall his second although my belief is that he had been in for quite a while after being arrested for a cache of guns found during the Falls curfew of 1970.\u00a0 After assuring him he would be okay we escorted both prisoners back to 14.\u00a0 Both had carrier bags with some personal belongings and we gathered as much stuff up as possible in pillow slips and carried those.\u00a0 Tablets\u2014bandages\u2014plasters\u2014methylated spirits \u2013really anything we thought could be of use in case there were casualties later.\u00a0 Once back in 14 both men were found a spare bed.\u00a0 They had a cup of tea and a guard was placed on the cubicle Jimmy was assigned.
\nI don\u2019t recall the reasoning but sometime after this a decision was made for all of the UVF\/RHC prisoners who had arrived in 14 should now decamp and make their way to 19.\u00a0 We made an attempt to form up in three\u2019s and in a haphazard fashion we made our way to \u201cHeadquarters\u201d\u00a0 No fuss was made of us when we arrived\u2014what I do remember on that walk from 14 to 19 was again more watch towers exploding\u2014being completely surrounded by armed republicans and the constant noise.\u00a0 As best we could a head count for our organisation was conducted and we were able to ascertain our strength in numbers.\u00a0 This was done in the canteen and Gusty gave out whatever instructions were needed.\u00a0 First and foremost we were to be alert-both from Republicans and latterly from the Army.\u00a0 By this stage it was accepted that there was only going to be one outcome.\u00a0 That, in time the Army would retake the jail.\u00a0 And the thinking was that they weren\u2019t going to be polite about things and ask if we were republicans or Loyalists.\u00a0 Other than be on standby there wasn\u2019t a hell of a lot more we could have done.\u00a0 In a year-1974- when \u201cGet Your Boots On \u201c became a catchphrase, we were well and truly \u201cLaced up\u201d this time.\u00a0 As time ticked by the tension increased.\u00a0 We stood about in groups.\u00a0 All that year we had had many practice drills and we each knew what was expected off us.\u00a0 As in the compound switch between 11 and 12 in July we knew who would be in the front ranks..who would have special duties to perform around the flanks\u2014but in all honesty we always hoped that they were precautions only and hoped they were never realised.\u00a0 Every so often the officers convened\u2014usually to the canteen or half hut for another briefing.\u00a0 And after each meeting we searched for answers\u2014for clues.\u00a0 But the reality was the officers and NCO\u2019s knew little more than we did.\u00a0 In a compound that was custom made to hold a maximum of 80 prisoners there must have been more than 200 in 19 at that stage.\u00a0 We stood about in small groups..we circled the wire\u2014in pairs\u2014in groups…\u00a0 The boilers worked overtime giving an endless supply of tea and coffee.\u00a0 Cigarettes glowed like fireflies around the compound.\u00a0 There was an apocalyptic feel to it all.\u00a0 No one was certain what was to transpire which made it all the more worrying.
\nI suppose if we had thought about it seriously we could have worked out that the Army always attack at a time just approaching dawn..Isn\u2019t that the way it was in all those old TV movies we knew so well?\u00a0 And so..sometime in the very early morning the attack began.\u00a0 Is it my imagination or did it go eerily quiet for a while before the first assault?\u00a0 And then………….a tumultuous roar….battle cries..the warnings..the fear..the adrenaline let loose.\u00a0 They knew it was coming and to a certain extent were prepared..but actuality is a different ball game.\u00a0 The Republicans tactics seemed to be..we will fight them on the wide open expanses of the 2 football pitches….\u00a0 The scene\u2014if you picture it would look like some latter day battlefield.\u00a0 Opposing forces at each end..advancing to a bloody skirmish..on the half way line.\u00a0 But no.\u00a0 As we stood..our own divorced masses..hoping the battle kept its distance..we could hear all..but see nothing.\u00a0 Like an outdoor cinema with plenty of sound but missing the picture.\u00a0 The noise was frightening…roars of encouragement\u2014cries of despair..warnings shouted..defiance..and of pain.\u00a0 Another noise.\u00a0 That of helicopters..whump-whump-whump\u2014flying low..barely above the wire.\u00a0 And this was before the anti-copter wires were installed.\u00a0 We at last..from our disadvantaged viewpoint\u2014we could see something.\u00a0 Cluster bombs being fires from the helicopters on to the hordes below.\u00a0 CS gas we told one another.\u00a0 Seemingly not we would find out later.\u00a0 The Republicans had no answer..they were dispersed to the four corners..they choked on fumes..they spluttered and they could not see.\u00a0 They fought but in the end they were easy pickings for the ground forces who picked them off.\u00a0 A number of UDA men from 19 had been given the freedom to leave the compound-by jimmy Craig.\u00a0 A few of them..dressed similarly in ponchos and with faces blackened arrived back on a number of occasions carrying wounded Provisional\u2019s-some in worse shape than others.\u00a0 Many had what looked like rubber bullet wounds and\u00a0 I seen a couple who were in very poor condition.\u00a0 They were taken to the back end of the half hut and given whatever treatment was available.\u00a0 The battle continued\u2014for how long I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 But at sometime in the morning\u2014it was daylight anyway on a grey and grim mid\u00a0 morning-activity ceased.\u00a0 By this stage most of the Provisional prisoners had returned to their compounds-which of course by now had been razed to the ground.\u00a0 The game was up.\u00a0 The fight was knocked out of them.\u00a0 If burning the jail was seen as some sort of victory for them towards the end of a year of endless protests, then this night\u2019s bout was indisputably a rout of the highest order.\u00a0 In many ways it was pitiful to see the stragglers trudge back to their cages..beaten and bowed.\u00a0 But the overwhelming feelings amongst most of the Loyalist prisoners were definitely lacking in sympathy.\u00a0 The deceitfulness of the Republican leadership to get us to vacate our compounds wouldn\u2019t be forgotten…and rightly so.
\nDuring the day that followed we were subjected to countless head counts.\u00a0 To establish who we were\u2014where we had came from.\u00a0 If the Army knew by now that were non aggressors in the previous night\u2019s actions, at times they didn\u2019t show it.\u00a0 They came in with the attitude that everyone was the same and we would be treated as such.\u00a0 In the days and weeks to come we would suffer many hardships\u2014in overcrowded-under heated-filthy and damp and dirty conditions.\u00a0 That story is for another day.\u00a0 The Fire was a turning point in Long Kesh history..but it was far from a glorious chapter in the Provisional\u2019s book of historical fables.<\/p>\n

Beano Niblock<\/strong><\/p>\n

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