Letters: Poppy Day Massacre should never be forgotten

In 2018 I attended a British Legion event in Flanders. As I sat in the stands the English lady next to me asked why I had a badge on my lapel remembering Enniskillen.

I explained to the lady my connection, how my aunt and uncle were there that day, my aunt buried under rubble for hours. With tears in her eyes she told me that her husband, a solider based at Enniskillen, had dug people out of the rubble that day. It was a bizarre experience. There were literally thousands of people and there we were sitting side by side. She remembered but she’s the exception.

If the Poppy Day Massacre had happened anywhere else in the UK or been carried out by any organisation other than the IRA I have no doubt that those who were murdered for remembering would have found a place in the collective memory of the nation.

Survivors would have an honoured place at the Festival of Remembrance and the Cenotaph on occasions like the 30th anniversary in 2017.

That the perpetrators remain at large would be regarded as a stain on the nation.

There would have been a public inquiry.

There would have been an apology demanded from the government on whose soil the bomb was constructed.

The world would have imposed sanctions on that government for its failure to do all it could to bring those responsible to justice.

The fact that the bombers could theoretically argue - as many terrorists successfully did in Irish courts - that the constitution of the state protected them from extradition would cause global outrage.

But as it was, the victims were forgotten.

Those responsible were not hunted down. Martin McGuinness who was stopped by Irish police a few days after the bombing while returning from what the late Liam Clarke said was an IRA meeting about Enniskillen went on to be lionised, ironically, as a man of peace.

Dublin went on to use the threat of future Enniskillens as a reason to further its objectives following the Brexit referendum. It did so without protest from our sovereign government.

Far from being remembered on a national level, a memorial in Enniskillen proved controversial and for years was hidden away.

The political mouthpieces of those behind Enniskillen now lecture society on rights while continuing to excuse, justify and celebrate the IRA.

Far from society vowing that such things can never happen again, young nationalists grow up singing the praises of those responsible.

Seven out of 10 of our nationalist neighbours believe there was “no alternative” to Enniskillen.

When a memorial was finally erected it was in spite of the powers that be, with the families of those murdered having to do the work themselves.

A memorial is finally rightly placed where the victims fell. But what an absolute scandal it is that even this small thing was a struggle. What a scandal that so many forget or worse - want it forgotten.

Samuel Morrison, Dromore, Co Down