{"id":3427,"date":"2015-08-11T15:19:14","date_gmt":"2015-08-11T14:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=3427"},"modified":"2015-08-11T15:19:14","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T14:19:14","slug":"25-after-21-primo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=3427","title":{"rendered":"25 After 21: Primo"},"content":{"rendered":"

25 \u00a0after \u00a021.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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England were playing Germany in a World Cup semi-final. Turin Italy 4th<\/sup> July 1990. England had a half decent team for a change.\u00a0 Platt, Lineker, Waddle, Pearce. A solid team. But it was Gazza the clown prince. The flawed genius, \u00a0him that was daft as a brush that would live long in my memory. I had just been released from my life sentence. Terrorist. \u00a0Paramilitary.\u00a0 Killer.\u00a0 Some of the repeatable terms I have been called through my life. \u00a0Now I was embarking on a\u00a0 new chapter in my life. And here I was in someone\u2019s house watching this great match on a huge colour TV. Sort of engrossed in the match but making pleasant conversation with our hosts.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to image that this memory is over 25 years old \u00a0and coincides\u00a0 with my release. It prompted\u00a0 a mini stocktake. What has happened to me in those speeding years? Is it really a quarter of a century?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been in trouble since my release . Quiet the contrary. \u00a0I worked every day since release and at times had two jobs. I\u2019ve been a volunteer again, this time helping with children, the homeless and those with addictions. I\u2019ve lost two friends through suicide. I was married quickly, maybe too quickly, \u00a0which ended in a messy divorce. But I did have a great son and two young people who make me proud when they call me dad.\u00a0 There was lots of new friends and travel. Amazing \u00a0new places, new customs, \u00a0languages and food.\u00a0 Meeting people of every describable culture, \u00a0religion and beliefs. \u00a0I\u2019ve been watching events around the world unfold, the Gulf wars, Ebola, 9\/11, economic collapse, the rise of the internet, the \u201895 ceasefires , the GFA in \u201898. I went to the Somme twice. But the most moving place still has to be Auschwitz. \u00a0A place where hate and blind prejudice saw one group of people try to destroy another group of people in the most horrible way possible.<\/p>\n

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The highs and lows have been intense but there had been a never ending chain of funerals of both family and friends from Compound 21. I chatted many times with Billy Mitchell, Gusty and Davy Irvine but sadly, all too quickly, \u00a0I would be walking behind their coffins. \u00a0The Gannet, \u00a0Shakey, Swanner, Freddie S, Tommy the Burgermeister, Grouty, Frankie, and many more, all gone.<\/p>\n

I lost a doting mother that travelled week in, week out, without fail \u00a0to that place just outside of Lisburn. I lost an aunt, \u00a0then another. I watch my elderly father, a hard working man all his life, \u00a0come to terms with old age, illness and the loss of his wife of over 50 years.\u00a0 I meet and talk with the enemy – Provo ex-prisoners . \u00a0Lifers. Finally seeing at close quarters, \u00a0the people we regarded as the ultimate enemy.<\/p>\n

I meet victims and their relatives.\u00a0 I speak to many young people from \u201cboth sides\u201d- about where violence can lead. \u00a0I ask them to think first and make up their own minds. The gutter press print the twisted truth and hurt my family. I\u2019ve been sent to Coventry in certain jobs when people find out what I did as a teenager.\u00a0 I have been barred from jobs once the great and the good find out what I am- someone who was involved in \u201cThe Troubles\u201d- like thousands of others in those mad days.\u00a0 I have been humbled and amazed by ordinary people who have accepted me as I am now. I try to copy their forgiveness and understanding. \u00a0I have never taken an illegal drug in my life. \u00a0I feel like weeping when I see the damage wreaked by drugs and alcohol in so many young people.<\/p>\n

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I Have shaken hands with both the First and Deputy Ministers. \u00a0I have met the President of Ireland. \u00a0I visit Dublin. \u00a0Enemy capital at one time.<\/p>\n

And now the 7th<\/sup> decade of my life rushes on. \u00a0I thank God that I have my freedom, my health and that we live in relative peace. \u00a0I do think of my victims and their families and the devastation inflicted on them. \u00a0But I also recall all too well the dark days of the early \u201870s and what was done to friends. \u00a0I think we live in a good place with some bad people.\u00a0 Of all sorts and types. \u00a0I still see some of the men \u00a0from Compound 21. \u00a0Nearly all have settled down, raised families, have jobs– and all the worries of free people. \u00a0Paying bills, the children\u2019s welfare –grandchildren too, too much weight being put on— is my job safe, etc.<\/p>\n

I really felt for Gazza that night. \u00a0If England had won, he had been booked twice and was going to miss the final.\u00a0\u00a0 I heard him speak recently about the course his life has taken since that night. We don\u2019t have much in common except maybe one thing. \u00a0We\u2019ll both remember 1990 as a life changing year.<\/p>\n

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Primo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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