Survivor Billy tells of his pain at burying his tragic best pal day before tying knot
A RANGERS- DAFT pensioner will celebrate his Golden Wedding anniversary next week – 50 years after he survived being crushed to death in the Ibrox Disaster.
Billy Robertson was saved from the Stairway 13 carnage after he was dragged from beneath a pile of bodies and unaware that his best friend John James McGovern had lost his life nearby.
Billy, now 74, was rushed to hospital following the horror event on January 2, 1971, that saw 66 fans killed and hundreds left injured.
The Gers supporter then had to bury mate John later that week before he and wife Veronica went ahead with their planned wedding the following day in their hometown of Prestonpans, East Lothian.
John – who left behind wife Ellen and sons Kevin and Keith – was on leave from the Army when he and Billy travelled through for the New Year Old Firm game in 1971.
Now, 50 years on from the disaster, Billy and Veronica – parents to three, grandparents to four and great-grandparents to one – will celebrate a half century of married li fe together.
But Billy admits next week’s celebrations will be low-key due to the ongoing pandemic and added that they will be tinged with sadness as he remembers pal John, aged 24 when he died on that fateful afternoon in Glasgow.
Billy, a retired plumber, said: “It is a day I will never forget as I lost my mate John in the disaster.
“We were leaving the ground when we heard the huge roar that Rangers had scored.
“Next thing, I was on the ground with bodies below and on top of me and I just lost sight of John. It was the last time I would ever see him.
“I remember I couldn’t breathe and all the life was being crushed out of me.
“All I could think at the time was, ‘Please God, don’t let me die – I’m getting married next week’.
“I must have blacked out as next thing I remember I was lying on the side of the pitch as the Red Cross guys had managed to pull me out from the pile of bodies.”
Billy was rushed to the city’s Southern General Hospital where he was treated for severe bruising before he had to make his own way home by train later that night.
Wife Veronica, 69, added: “Back then there were no mobile phones and we just didn’t know what had happened to Billy and John.
“Of course, our big day was affected by what had happened and we always raise a glass to John when this time of year comes around.”