‘Bloody Sunday was last time I saw my brother’
A man whose brother was killed on Bloody Sunday told today how he last saw him as they ran together from the troops coming into Derry’s Bogside that day.
George McKinney said he had had to live with the question of why his brother William had died in the Army shootings instead of himself and added: ‘‘I still find it very difficult to talk about.’’
Giving evidence to the Saville Inquiry in the city, Mr McKinney said he returned home that evening and told his mother that William and another brother, Michael, were safe, only to be given the news of William’s death by friends later that evening.
Mr McKinney said he was the last member of his family to speak to William, 26, one of the 13 men and youths killed on January 30, 1972. A 14th man injured that day died six months later.
The pair had a five-minute chat before the Paratroopers moved in following a civil rights demonstration which both brothers had been attending.
Mr McKinney said William asked him to come and watch home movie footage he had filmed of a civil rights march on Magilligan Strand, Co Londonderry, a week before and they also discussed the demonstration in progress around them.
He said the Army came in at 4.10pm in their direction and said: ‘‘The first thing we knew was the roar of the Saracens. There seemed to be a lot of them.
‘‘Everyone seemed to turn and run. I did not want to be arrested for something I did not do. I was not rioting on that day (although I had been on other days).
‘‘Willie and I both turned and ran south up Rossville Street. We must have run a few yards together. I don’t know where Willie went then.’’
Mr McKinney also spoke of his anger about statements from the Government at the time.
He said: ‘‘Never, until the day I die, will I forgive the statement about the dead all being bombers and gunmen. It was very hurtful.
‘‘The British Government wouldn’t face up and give us a proper tribunal and say what we know is the truth. They must have known it was their mistake and they let it fester.’’
William was engaged to be married at the time of his death and was not a violent person at all, said Mr McKinney.
‘‘If someone picked a fight with him in the street he would not fight. We would do it for him. He was a very inoffensive person. The only reason he was on the march was to take photos. He did take big risks with photos.
‘‘I have seen footage of the house where he stood for the last minute for pictures. He had never held a gun in his life, let alone fired one. He was never in the IRA.’’
