The family of a Derry man, one of two people killed by the Official IRA, have today revisited the scene where their father was murdered 40 years ago.
The late John Dunn.
John Dunn (46) and Cecilia Byrne (53) died instantly when a bomb, which had earlier been placed in Mr Dunn’s car outside his Eastway Gardens home in Creggan, exploded in May Street in the Waterside.
The explosion occurred exactly at 1.00pm on Friday 14 January 1974 close to Ebrington army barracks where Mr Dunn and Mrs Byrne, a married woman from Iniscarn Road in Creggan, were employed as civilian workers.
No one has ever been arrested in connection with the killings for which the Official IRA claimed responsibility 25 years later – in 1999.
The bomb had been placed under the driver’s seat of Mr Dunn’s blue Ford Escort.
Mr Dunn, a father of six, left his home at 7.30am that morning and drove the car to his work.
He also drove the car on two occasions back to the city side, one of which was to purchase a leaving present for a work colleague.
Mr Dunn’s son, Donal, who was 19 years old at the time, was at the scene of the atrocity minutes after the explosion occurred, unaware that his father had been killed.
Donal – an apprentice painter with the DOE – waas in Ebrington Barracks on that day – had only spoken to his father hours before he was killed.
And he remembers exactly what time the bomb exploded.
Donal recalled: “I was in the canteen having my lunch and listening to the radio and as the pips went for the One O’Clock News there as an almighty bang.
“It was at a time when there were a lot of bombs going off so I did not think too much about it.
“A short time later, the foreman came in and told us to go and board up smashed windows at the front of the barracks directly opposite where the bomb had gone off.
“I was up a ladder and could see the wrecked car. I could see it was the same colour as my father’s and for a split second thought it could have been ours, but I just dismissed it and got on with my work.
“I was still up the ladder when two detectives called me down. They showed me a driving licence and asked did I know the person. I confirmed it was my father. I could not believe it and did not believe it until I identified my father in the morgue at Altnagelvin Hospital.”
Donal then had the arduous task of telling his mother and the rest of his family.
“My mother had been at work had been called home because the army were searching around the house. Local priest, Fr Joe Carolan, was there. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life.”
Donal said the pain of that day has never gone away.
He said:”It is as fresh in my mind today as it was 40 years ago. The pain never goes away. It has affected the family and the extended family.”
Donal added:”My father was a hard working family man and worked in Ebrington which may have be seen as a government establishment and a so called target. Today, we have republicans also working in government establishments – what was the difference in 1974?”
Mr Dunn’s family revisited the scene at 1.00pm today to lay floral tributes.
An anniversary Mass for Mr Dunn and Mrs Byrne, who had no children, will be held in Mary’s Church in Creggan at 630pm this evening.
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