|
Thirty
years on and *not* forgtten
Sunday 2nd March 2008 ... From the
Shankill
Mirror, and on page 6 there is a poem about the 3 Royal Highland Fusiliers
(below) that was Murdered 0n the 9th March 1971 and dumped at Ligoniel Belfast.
Three members of the Royal Highland Fusiliers aged 17, 18, and 21 were lured to their deaths on March
9th 1971, An editorial in the Belfast Telegraph commented, "After all the horrors of recent weeks and
months, Ulster people have almost lost the capacity for feeling shock.
But the barbaric and ruthless murder of three defenceless young soldiers has cut to the quick.
As there funerals took place in their hometown, Belfast city centre was brought to a standstill as tens of
thousands poured into the grounds of the Cenotaph at Belfast City Hall.
Thanks
to: - John Girdler (ex Queens) for the above info |
Ligoniel.
All those that rule this Province,
How guilty they must feel,
For the deaths of three young soldiers,
In a ditch at Ligoniel.
These soldiers came from Scotland,
Two only in their teens,
In cold blood they were murdered,
Whilst those in power just dream.
When our own Ulster soldiers,
Some serving far away,
Receive their sprig of Shamrock,
I wonder what they'd say,
Our lands good name is tarnished,
This scar will never heal,
Perhaps they will plant a thistle,
In that ditch at Ligoniel.
It matters not how long they live,
They never can conceal,
They stood aside while soldiers died,
In that ditch at Ligoniel.
Our thoughts go to the parents,
When on their knees they kneel,
And try to paint a picture,
Of that ditch at Ligoniel.
End. |
|
10.03.1971
Fusilier John Boreland McCaig Aged 17, ( B. Coy) (Single).
From Ayr, While off duty with his Brother and a friend in a Belfast bar, he was talked into
going to a party by some girls, he was taken to Ligoniel on the outskirts of Belfast where a group
of men from the IRA were waiting. They ambushed the young soldier and his friends, then cold bloodily executed them, it was after
this incident that the minimum age for soldiers serving in Northern Ireland
was raised to eighteen. |
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