An Phoblacht/Republican News · Thursday 29 November 2001 · http://www.irlnet.com/aprn/

Courage of Bloody Sunday hero acclaimed

The heroism of a man who crawled out under intense rifle fire to help a dying victim on Bloody Sunday was publicly acknowledged by both sides at the inquiry this week.

The image of Paddy Walsh approaching the prone body of Paddy Doherty is among the most dramatic pictures that emerged from the shootings on January 30th, 1972, when British soldiers opened fire on nationalist civil rights demonstrators, killing fourteen.

Mr Walsh, who was 38 years old and a father of five children, described in evidence yesterday the incident which took place in the shadow of Rossville Flats and which was observed with fear and horror by people looking down from windows.

He said he crept out, crouched low, to see if there was anything he could do for Mr Doherty, who was lying in the open.

He reached the body and began to search for identification but found nothing. "I searched every pocket," he said. "I was thinking to myself why has he been shot? It could have been me. I lifted his head to say a prayer to him . . . I heard the whoosh of bullets going over my head, but I did not realise they were bullets at the time."

He also recalled bullets hitting the ground nearby.

Mr Walsh, who had helped another wounded man, Patrick McDaid, to safety minutes before, admitted that it had taken a lot of persuasion for him to come forward to give evidence. "I don't talk about Bloody Sunday now but I attend the memorial service every anniversary," he said.

He said that if he had a gun on Bloody Sunday "I would have taken a chance after I saw an innocent man shot. He had no weapons, no nail bombs. No one around there had any weapons either. The people that were shot were simply shot; they were murdered for no reason at all."

Ms Eilis McDermott QC, for Mr Doherty's family, said they had asked her "to publicly thank you for the heroism you showed on this day in your efforts to help Mr Doherty". Mr Peter Clarke QC, for a number of soldiers, joined other counsel "in saluting you for your courage and your compassion".

Fifteen-year-old Donna Friel, looking down from a second-floor flat, watched the entire episode unfold. Now Mrs Donna Harkin, she said she saw several men crawling towards the shelter of an alleyway.

The last man, Paddy Doherty, pushed an elderly man ahead of him into safety and was then hit in the buttock by a bullet. His body jerked off the ground, and she could see the colour draining from his face.

"I went hysterical," she said. "I had a rosary in my hands and I tried to climb out of the window to get down to the ground to help Mr Doherty. I got my leg out of the window but Mrs McCallion pulled me back in."

She then watched Mr Walsh make several attempts, amid continuous shooting, to go out to Mr Doherty and he eventually reached him.

Concluding her evidence, Mrs Harkin asked the tribunal if she could say something. She said she believed Mr Doherty, a father of six, was an innocent man who was murdered that day.

She hoped that when this inquiry was over, soldiers who had been given medals or bravery awards would return them, "because it was a coward that shot Mr Doherty, not even shooting him in the back, they shot him as he was crawling away, trying to save himself."

In other testimony, a Derry woman told the Inquiry she witnessed a fight among soldiers shortly after the Bloody Sunday killings.

Susan Doherty (nee Ferry) said she was 16 when she went on the 1972 anti-internment march. Mrs Doherty said she was with her sister, Evelyn O'Hagan, when she saw the soldiers arguing as women made their way home from the march.

As she made her way past St Eugene's cathedral the witness said she saw soldiers "arguing and fighting" among themselves.

"One of the soldiers shouted: 'We have killed the Fenian bastards today...'

"One soldier grabbed another soldier by the throat and pushed him against the railings. I remember that. The soldier said to the other 'It's all right, you bastards are going home tonight, we're staying'," she said.

But the IRA persuaded young Derry men not to retaliate against the British army on the evening of Bloody Sunday, the Inquiry was told.

Kevin Barrett said he was present in the nationalist Creggan with other young men who were discussing the deaths earlier in the day.

"The feeling mainly amongst the young boys was that steps should be taken to retaliate against the army," Mr Barrett said.

"There were guns available that night. I saw a sniper's rifle, a Le Grande make, lying across the back seat of a car.

"Despite the strong feelings amongst some people, there were others -- IRA members I believe -- who urged restraint.

"In the end their view prevailed," said Mr Barrett.