Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TOWN’S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE GOES ON
30 years since Poppy Day massacre
how as a child they meant so much to me and to my life.”
As time passes, she stresses the atrocity cannot be forgotten about or brushed aside as post-conflict generations grow up with little knowledge of some of the horrors of the Troubles.
At today’s service her granddaughter will be singing, a talent she has inherited from the great-grandfather she never got to meet. Ms Robinson, left, said: “She has a beautiful voice, like my father did. That will be emotional, to see her singing. It will be like hearing him again.” RELATIVES of those killed in the Poppy Day bomb have vowed to continue their fight for justice on the 30th anniversary of the atrocity.
An IRA device exploded without warning before a Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, on November 8, 1987.
Eleven people were killed and scores more injured in one of the most barbaric attacks of the Troubles.
A 12th victim died in December 2000 after spending 13 years in a coma.
Joan Anderson, whose parents William and Agnes Mullan were among the victims, said: “You have to learn to live with it or else you’re another victim and I refuse to be another victim.
“You heal to a point but it’s inside you and it never leaves.
“Every day of my life I miss my parents. I can say that after 30 years you finally get to the point where you can accept that it happened but you do not forget and I am still angry about it.
“I’m angry that right across Northern Ireland good people have been killed and we have been forgotten about.”
The bomb was planted in a building close to the memorial.
When it detonated the walls collapsed on top of those who had gathered to pay respects to the war dead.
The actions of the bombers stood in stark contrast to the response of bereaved father Gordon Wilson, who made headlines around the world with his words of forgiveness for those who killed his daughter Marie, a 19-year-old student nurse.
Another innocent victim was killed the following day when loyalist paramilitaries sought to retaliate by shooting a Catholic in West Belfast.
However, due to mistaken identity, they killed Protestant student Adam Lambert. Aileen Quinton’s mother Alberta died in the bombing.
She said: “It’s so hard to believe it’s been 30 years. There’s just an unreality about it.
“At the time it just felt too awful to be true and in many ways it still is.
“I’m no more used to it. It’s still awful and it still matters.”
Stella Robinson’s mother and father, Wesley and Bertha Armstrong, were also killed.
She added: “I think people born after the Troubles or after 1996 [the year of the IRA ceasefire] are not educated enough about what happened. I think they just want people to move on and they don’t want to be reminded.
“But I just don’t want this to be forgotten about.
“They were taken from us and I want people to know. I was very close to both my parents and they meant the world to me. I really miss them and I was robbed of 30 years of their life with me.” A memorial will be unveiled at the site of the bombing today with a service in Enniskillen Presbyterian Church.
During a recent visit to Belfast, former US President Bill Clinton revealed the Clinton Centre, a facility named in his honour and built in the area which was bombed, will receive a major investment towards its activities commemorating those who died. Ten people were arrested in connection with the bombing but no charges were ever brought. Det Supt Ian Harrison said: “The PSNI remains committed to pursuing investigative options should they develop in the future.”