RIP Dickie, and thanks.
Fair play to Adam Clayton, the production team, and the interviewees of the episode of “Ballroom Blitz”, broadcast 04/12/2024, and thanks for a great programme about the showbands, great for all the wrong reasons might I add. I ended up in tears at the description of the savage, inhuman, slaughter perpetrated by terrorist scum on the members of The Miami. Adam cried as well, on camera. A number of the band members survived the initial blast only to be shot in the back while running away, 2 of them. The terrorists checked those lying on the ground for signs of life presumably to kill them where they lay; is it fair to assume they weren't going to call ambulances for them?
Stephen Travers, ex-Miami and one of the survivors of the mindless massacre related how, when a RUC man (? not sure exactly when PSNI came into being) approached him at the scene, Stephen asked for an ambulance for his injured band-mates. I'm putting this bit in quotes although they may not be Stephen's actual words. "You're all right son. You come with me. we'll have ambulances for everyone." I wanted to try and convey how these kind, reassuring, words stand out starkly against the actions of the terrorists, "civilians", and terrorist collaborators, allegedly members of the British "defence forces".
I'd like to add the names of the murdered Fran O’Toole, Tony Geraghty, and Brian McCoy to this tribute to be remembered with Dickie. If I had space I'd like to add the names of all the entertainers, youngsters mostly, who, post the Miami slaughter, continued to tour the North, bringing relief, happiness, and entertainment to a beleaguered citizenry. Why the terrorists targeted innocent entertainers is beyond my comprehension. One interviewee, I'm not sure if it was Stephen, related how they'd have two vans or buses displaying the band's or local authority logos depart from venues they played at to try to confuse the mindless murdering scum and their alleged defence forces collaborators.
So to all of you, musical, comedic, actors, magicians, sporting clubs, etc, members of the same "tribe" as Adam put it, to every one of you heroes & heroines of mine, a humble personal salute.
Links below contain images, already published in mass media sites, of the murder scene, which may prove upsetting for some.
A SURVIVOR of the Miami Showband atrocity prayed at the site of the killings hours after winning a legal battle around the case. And Stephen Travers said the agreement to settle was driven by UK pl…
www.thesun.ie
ADAM Clayton is seen breaking down in tears as he interviews a survivor of the notorious Miami Showband massacre. The U2 bass player branded as “daft” the loyalist plot behind the attack that aimed…
www.thesun.ie