Northern Ireland

Kingsmill massacre 'brought village to its knees'

Eight of the 10 Protestant workmen who were shot dead at Kingsmill. L-R top: Robert Chambers, John Bryans, Joseph Lemon and Joseph McWhirter. L-R bottom: Walter Chapman, John McConville, Kenneth Wharton and Reggie Chapman. Picture by Alan Lewis
Eight of the 10 Protestant workmen who were shot dead at Kingsmill. L-R top: Robert Chambers, John Bryans, Joseph Lemon and Joseph McWhirter. L-R bottom: Walter Chapman, John McConville, Kenneth Wharton and Reggie Chapman. Picture by Alan Lewis Eight of the 10 Protestant workmen who were shot dead at Kingsmill. L-R top: Robert Chambers, John Bryans, Joseph Lemon and Joseph McWhirter. L-R bottom: Walter Chapman, John McConville, Kenneth Wharton and Reggie Chapman. Picture by Alan Lewis

THE killing of 10 Protestant workers by the IRA brought the men's home village to its knees, the brother of one of the dead said.

Bessbrook, in the rolling hills of South Armagh, not far from the Irish border, was founded by the Quakers, the Society of Friends who believed in pacifism and abhorred war.

The people of the model village built around the linen industry were "homely" and religious division was never an issue, even amid the cauldron of the Troubles, William Chambers said.

The day of the Kingsmill massacre everything went quiet - lives were shattered, children orphaned, mothers deprived of youngsters and talent wasted, witnesses told the inquest.

Mr Chambers said: "It brought Bessbrook to its knees but the people still did not turn on one another, against one another, they still talked to each other.

"It did not matter about religion, we did not take that into consideration - we were one big happy family."

The final gesture of the workmen to a Catholic colleague who was singled out by the gunmen at the Kingsmill crossroads was to squeeze his hand in reassurance. He was ordered to flee and became one of only two to survive.

A lawyer for one of the families, Neil Rafferty, said: "He was their friend. He was not a Catholic, he was their friend."

He noted the Quakers are the Society of Friends, and for the Protestant community in the area that was clearly their ethos.

Bessbrook had already changed. The mill that dominated the village was to become Europe's busiest heliport, ferrying troops into South Armagh where it was too dangerous to patrol by road.

Among those who died were cloth finishers, an apprentice fitter and a machinist.

Mr Chambers is the brother of 18-year-old apprentice fitter Robert Chambers.

He said: "He had everything going for him. He was a happy lad, he loved his work, liked serving his time along with Alan Black (the sole survivor), he was a nice lad.

"He had his whole life in front of him but it was cut short."

Tom Bryans was orphaned aged 16 after his father John was killed. He said he never got to know him.

He told the inquest: "If it had not been for an elderly great-aunt and uncle who took us in I don't know what we would have done."

Gary Bradley, grandson of James McWhirter, said Bessbrook was a wonderful place to grow up.

"Grandpa was a tough man, he was a hard man, a hard worker, he was great fun, he was very kind, very generous and it was the most extraordinarily traumatic episode that continues to this day - from the very night that we had the knock on the door from the police officer who brought the news."