Memories of a ‘tremendous’ day and a beloved uncle

Tom Sutherland’s nephew Gordon has recalled the “tremendous”moment he heard of his beloved uncle’s release from captivity.

The 49-year-old, who still lives and works at the Stirlingshire farm where Tom sat down for a chat with the Observer, remembers his father’s brother as a wild character who was always up for a laugh.

Gordon, who is married with two daughters, said: “Tom was released on November 18, 1991, and I remember the day well.

“I was working in a digger and heard while listening to the news on the radio at 11.30am.

“I couldn’t believe it – it was a real shock.

“My dad [Peter] came to pick me up from work and I remember getting to see Tom shortly after as he’d been flown over. That was a tremendous day.

“To that point we’d had little news and no contact with him – my Aunt Jean stayed over in Beirut so she would tell us whenever she found out anything.”

Gordon, who had another uncle Willie, was just a teenager when Tom was taken hostage by eight gunmen in Lebanon on June 5 1986.

He said:“I can remember my dad speaking to Tom on the phone before he flew out there, begging him not to go. Next thing we’d heard that he had been taken. It was very difficult for the family.

“What happened to him was terrible, the beatings, but I think his personality helped him get through it.

“He was a welleducated, well-travelled guy. I remember he always used to say,‘it’s amazing what the human body can endure’.

“He was as wild as the heather. My dad was calm but Tom was the wild one.

“I remember growing up the three of them together trying to wind me up. You know what uncles are like. He was a good laugh.”

Recalling Tom’s return to the farm, and the moment he was reunited with his family, Gordon said: “Remarkably what he had gone through didn’t really show on him. Those six years would have changed his life but when he returned he seemed calm – he seemed to take it all in his stride.

“He spent time after that giving motivational talks and speeches and while it might have been difficult for us to hear about what he went through, I think it helped him.”

Tom added:“He spent much of the rest of his life in America but would visit three to four times each year. We had a family get-together two months after Tom died with our American cousins, which was nice.”