Soldier who fired most Bloody Sunday shots giving evidence
A former paratrooper who claims to have fired 19 shots at a sniper in a bathroom window on Bloody Sunday is expected to give evidence to the Saville Tribunal today.
Soldier H, who fired 22 shots – the highest number of any soldier on Bloody Sunday – claimed in his statement to have fired three rounds which hit two men in Glenfada Park, while the rest were spent trying to shoot a gunman.
The inquiry is hearing evidence on the events of January 30, 1972, when 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead by soldiers during a civil rights march in the Bogside area of Derry.
Soldier H, who was a member of the anti-tank platoon of Support Company, said in his statement he could not call out to warn his colleagues as he was wearing a respirator and fired the 19 shots over a period of 30 seconds.
He said that each time he fired, the sniper disappeared from view but the muzzle of the gun remained visible through what appeared to be frosted glass.
He said he had to stop firing to change his magazine.
“All the time I was changing my magazine, the threat of being fired at remained and I was totally focused on re-engaging the gunman and protecting my colleagues.”
None of the shots hit the window, but Soldier H found it difficult to believe he would have missed it, his statement added.
The former soldier also claimed to have shot two youths earlier as they handled a nail bomb just after he entered the courtyard of the flats.
He claimed he was “terrified” at the time.
“The knock of my knees is one of the clearest memories I have of that day,” he said. “Coming under fire was absolutely terrifying. It was more frightening than my first parachute jump.”
Lord Widgery, in his report of the first Inquiry held in 1972, disputed Soldier H’s account of firing 19 times at the window.
“Soldier H did not fire 19 shots at a gunman....those bullets were wholly unaccounted for,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Soldier L, who is still to give evidence to the Saville Inquiry, has claimed in his statement that he saw Soldier H opening fire on a body at point blank range. He added that when soldiers lifted the body to put on an army truck, it split in two.
Another Soldier, 027, who has given evidence, claimed that Soldier H fired from the hip at a group of civilians in Glenfada Park. He said he saw one fall dead and another fall wounded.
Soldier 027 alleged that H then moved forward and fired again, killing the wounded man.
