THE funeral will take place tomorrow of Johnny McKane, the last man to live in the house in the Bogside which became famous as Free Derry Corner.
Mr McKane (82), who passed away at his home at Lisfannon Park, originally lived at 33 Lecky Road where three generations of his family had lived. He moved out just before the iconic words, “You Are Now Entering Free Derry” were scrawled on the gable wall of his home on the night of January 5 1969.
Famous the world over as a monument to civil rights, Mr McKane’s home marked the boundary of what became known as Free Derry, an area where the writ of the British parliament failed to extend. The Bogside area was a no-go zone for British soldiers, the B specials and the RUC from 1969 up until Operation Motorman in 1972.
On the night of January 4, B specials rampaged through the Bogside, prompting hundreds of men attending a meeting of Catholic ex-Servicemen in Creggan to march on the area. When they arrived, the B Specials had left.
Johnny McKane passes away
Early the next morning, prompted by activist, Eamonn McCann, local man Liam Hillen wrote “You are Now Entering Free Derry” on the gable wall of Mr McKane’s then vacant family home.
Mr McKane told the newspaper that while Free Derry Corner was a legendary monument throughout the world, to him it was always “just home”.
Mr McKane’s funeral takes place from his home, 67 Lisfannon Park tomorrow at 9.20am for Requiem Mass at St Columba’s, Long Tower (10am).
Interment will be afterwards at Derry city cemetery.
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