Bittersweet ceremony unites tragic Ballymurphy family

Posted by Jim on August 28, 2016

A priest has spoken about God’s “perfect timing” after he officiated at
the joint funeral mass of a man murdered by British soldiers and the
wife who campaigned in his memory, despite them dying exactly 45 years
apart.

Joseph Murphy, who was buried with his wife Mary on Thursday, was one of
the 11 victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre which happened during the
introduction of internment without trial in August 1971.

Ten people, including Mr Murphy, a priest who had gone to the aid of one
of victims and a 50-year-old mother of eight children were shot dead by
British soldiers in west Belfast. Inquests have yet to be concluded into
the killings.

An eleventh victim, who does not come under the terms of the inquest,
Paddy McCarthy, died from a heart attack after a soldier allegedly put
an empty gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger.

It is believed that most if not all of the killings were carried out by
members of the British Parachute Regiment. The incident took place
months before the same regiment was involved in the Bloody Sunday
killings, which resulted in the deaths of 14 innocent civilians.

Last October, as part of the Ballymurphy inquests, the coroner ordered
that Mr Murphy’s body be exhumed so that an investigation could be
carried out into his family’s belief that he was shot on two occasions
by the British army.

In hospital before his death, Mr Murphy told his family he was first
shot in the upper thigh on the streets of Ballymurphy, but soldiers then
brought him into the nearby Henry Taggart barracks and shot him again
through his open wound.

A suspected bullet fragment found among his remains after his exhumation
supported his dying comments, and this will be a factor in the inquests
into his killing.

With other members of the Ballymurphy families, his widow Mary
campaigned for decades to establish the truth behind the killings. It
had been her hope that a second funeral Mass could be heard for her
husband before he was re-interred.

However, Mrs Murphy died from cancer on August 22nd, the same date that
Mr Murphy died from his injuries in 1971.

“Little did she think that he would be buried 45 years to the day when
he was first buried,” said officiating priest Fr Darach Mac Giolla
Cathain.

“More than that, that she would have the grace when she died that they
would be side by side in the church and be laid to rest together,” he
added. “God’s timing really is perfect.”

Their daughter has spoken of her mixed emotions that her beloved parents
were laid to rest together.

Janet Donnelly, said that the family had found out only the day before
her mother’s funeral that the Coroner’s Office were releasing their
father’s remains to them.

“The original plan was to have daddy buried and for our mummy to be
there. Our mother was a woman of great faith. When our daddy’s body was
exhumed in October she insisted that there was a priest present and that
there were prayers at the graveside. She wanted him to have a proper
funeral when the time came for him to be reburied. Little did we know
that he would be waiting for her in the chapel 45 years from the day of
his original funeral.”

After her husband’s death Mary Ellen Murphy was left to raise nine
children alone – three of her children have already passed away. She
remained in the same house in Ballymurphy Parade until her own death.

“After daddy passed away our mummy raised us on her own. She did what a
lot of women back then had to do: she just got on with it, she worked
non-stop. She had a house shop, she sold candy apples and she took any
work she could get, that’s what people did back then. Her faith carried
her through those hard years, she said her Rosary every day.

“It is bittersweet.. we’re happy because she always wanted to see him
buried again and we promised her it would happen.”

Janet says all the Ballymurphy families know the truth about their loved
ones, but it’s vital that the truth is put on record.

“We want an inquiry, we need for the rest of the world to know what
happened to the victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre. It’s about
justice. In years to come when people look back on history we want it
stated clearly in black and white that our loved ones were innocent
victims.

“Now that mummy has passed away it’s even more important for the
inquests to be heard as our witnesses are dying… there’s money sitting
there for inquests, it needs to be released.”