Father Alec Reid - Images forever ingrained in the 20th Century

Gerry Adams : Father Alec Reid was instrumental in saving lives.....

After 9/11 one of the worst things I've ever seen in my lifetime was the torture and murder of two Corporals that accidentally drove into an IRA funeral procession in March 1988........(Wood and Howes).... known as "The Corporal Killings".......Dragged from their car and beaten in front of TV cameras by an angry mob and later shot in the head in a close by car park.........Not that you can condone actions like this but the province was in an emotional state after a loyalist opened fire at an IRA funeral a scant few days before.....I imagine some thought it was happening again ???.....The soldiers were in plain dress in an unmarked car..........

Anyway as the soldiers were being beaten and thrown on the ground......Catholic Priest Father Alec Reid came out of the vicinity to plead for their lives with their capturors and proceeded to throw himself on the floor between the two men with his arms over both soldiers........After being told that he'd get shot too if he didn't move which didn't have the desired effect......He was dragged away from the scene and the soldiers were moved to a car park a few hundred yards away.........Father Reid followed them and heard two gun shots as he approached the scene......

A picture of Father Reid with blood on his lips after trying to revive one of the soldiers and giving last rites over the fallen man was named as one of Time magazines pictures of the 20th Century If I recall.......or a publication like that anyway..

Later on Father Reid would be credited with facilitating peace talks between groups and politicians (Something he was doing at the time)......Credited by all as instrumental in the Peace process..

1995 received the Tipperary international Peace Award

2008 received the Gandhi foundation International peace award....

Father Alec Reid..(1931 - 2015).............An amazing man.....and

Let's hope those days are over.....

Irish republicanism and the actions of the IRA (and those that supported and facilitated them) is a perfect example of what can happen when inflamed nationalism meets suitable levels of grievance.

People becoming so dogmatic in their beliefs that they lose all sense of basic humanity.

Interesting post Truss. I remember that event vividly, but didn't know so much about Reid. Always thought the fact those two soldiers didn't let loose into the mob with their sidearms was particularly brave.
Agree with you that Reid was a pretty impressive human being.

navyblueshorts wrote:Interesting post Truss. I remember that event vividly, but didn't know so much about Reid. Always thought the fact those two soldiers didn't let loose into the mob with their sidearms was particularly brave.
Agree with you that Reid was a pretty impressive human being.

There were hundreds at the funeral so as to the value of that course of action the jury is out.......But it was a very disturbing scene and nearly 30 years later it has always stayed with me.....

Don't think anyone wants to think about what they went through in the last minutes...Horrendous.

"I remember the atmosphere..You could feel it....I knew they were going to be shot......I felt I had done my best to save them..I felt it was a tragedy I had tried to stop and didn't".

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:Interesting post Truss. I remember that event vividly, but didn't know so much about Reid. Always thought the fact those two soldiers didn't let loose into the mob with their sidearms was particularly brave.
Agree with you that Reid was a pretty impressive human being.

There were hundreds at the funeral so as to the value of that course of action the jury is out.......But it was a very disturbing scene and nearly 30 years later it has always stayed with me.....

Don't think anyone wants to think about what they went through in the last minutes...Horrendous.

"I remember the atmosphere..You could feel it....I knew they were going to be shot......I felt I had done my best to save them..I felt it was a tragedy I had tried to stop and didn't".

Umm, they could have shot dozens between the two of them, and yet they refrained from doing so. I'm not saying they wouldn't still have been butchered, but not simply wasting more lives was quite a brave call in my book, knowing what was almost certainly in the offing.

Anyone interested in this period of Irish history..Should look up Robert Nairac.

Killed by the IRA but a fascinating character from the period.