Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HAIR I AM!
Brothers track down officer they had thought died in front of them
When you are shot in the head you should be dead
STEVE and Dave Hardy were just five and seven when Sgt Jim Craig was shot by an IRA sniper outside their home.
For more than four decades the brothers wrongly believed the policeman had lost his life.
But Jim survived because his hair had pushed his cap above his head, the matter of millimetres saving his life.
One bullet skimmed the top of his skull and the other glanced off his temple.
Steve and Dave, now 47 and 49, discovered that Jim was alive by chance and the three men met for a drink.
Jim, 72, said: “My memories of that day are confused so it was great to meet them.
“It was a revelation to me that they had been there so we talked over what happened and why.”
On August 24, 1979, Jim was sent to investigate a burglary in the Village area of South Belfast.
But the reported break-in was a hoax phoned in by the IRA in an attempt to lure the police into an ambush.
Three gunmen had taken an elderly man hostage over the road and were laying in wait at an upstairs window.
Jim said: “When I got out of the armoured Land Rover and knocked the door it felt like an electric shock.
“I thought the door knocker had been wired to the mains – I had no idea I had been shot.
“Then the feeling in the top of my head was like I had been hit with an axe from behind. I recall being conscious and hearing sirens and seeing people leaning over me.”
Dave, whose family lived next door, lay on the floor until he was scooped up by his mum. Steve, returning from a visit to a sweet shop, saw Jim lying on the street covered in blood.
Despite the passage of time both brothers still have vivid “slow motion” memories of the attack. They assumed Jim had died but despite being shot twice in the head he miraculously survived.
Jim explained: “What saved my life is that I had been on holiday in Scotland and returned to duty without getting my hair cut.
“Because my hair was longer than normal the cap was sitting proud so the shooter aimed high.
“It was literally a question of millimetres – when you’re shot in the head you should be dead.” Dad-of-one Jim, whose wife was pregnant with his second son at the time, was rushed to hospital.
He required two skin grafts to repair bullet damage to his scalp and was initially paralysed.
But he learned to walk again and returned to work just one year later.
Steve and Dave’s mum left Belfast soon after the attack when she met a soldier.
The brothers believe their parents never discussed what happened in a bid to “protect” them – and both boys followed their father into the army.
Dad-of-five Steve, now live in Cornwall, and retired recently, while dad-of-three Dave still lives in Belfast where he works as an ATM engineer after 10 years in the Royal Engineers.
Jim retired from the police in 2001 at the rank of inspector and still lives in Northern Ireland.
Steve said: “For 40 years we believe Jim had died but he went on to have a great life and travel the world.”
Dave added: “It really surprised me how overwhelmed I was during the meeting.
“It was the memory of the trauma but also happiness that he was alive. We will stay in touch in the future.
“Meeting him has opened up a new friendship – it’s lovely.”