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31 MARCH - 3 APRIL 2003
Evidence
heard
This week the Inquiry heard from the following soldiers:
Colonel Wilford (Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion
Parachute Regiment); INQ 1940 (Lance Corporal, 1st
Battalion Parachute Regiment);
Soldier 26 (2nd Lieutenant, 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment); INQ
166 (); Soldier 9 (Lieutenant, 11 Sphinx Battery, 22nd
Light Air Defence Regiment) and Soldier 21 (Captain, Royal Electrical and
Mechanical Engineers, attached to 22 Light Air Defence Regiment).
Summary of Evidence
Monday
31.03.03
Colonel Wilford, INQ 1940, Soldier 26
Tuesday
01.04.03
Colonel Wilford, INQ 166, Soldier 9
Wednesday
02.43.03
Colonel Wilford, Soldier 21
A full transcript of the proceedings is
available at http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.uk.
Numbers in square brackets refer to the
code given to a particular document by the Inquiry.
INTRODUCTION
Colonel Wilford began his evidence to the Inquiry last week and has yet to complete it. The whole of his evidence will be dealt with in next week’s report. In the meantime the Inquiry continues to hear from Paratroopers (Paras) and other soldiers present on Bloody Sunday. The Inquiry did not sit on Thursday 3 April.
INQ 1940
Lance Corporal, Anti-Tank Platoon, Support Company, 1st
Battalion Parachute Regiment
Made Statement to the Inquiry on 3 May 2000 [C1940]
INQ 1940 had not been to Derry before 30 January 1972. He was aware there was a possibility of an arrest operation however on the day his duty was changed to providing an escort for two senior officers. He believed these were Colonel Wilford and a more senior officer whose name he cannot remember. He and another private were told to go to a building where they then escorted the officers into the building and up to the 1st floor. He could not remember where the building was but from it they could see rioting. They could not the barriers or soldiers at which the rioters were directing their missiles. They were close enough to see the faces of people in the crowd and the rioters could have thrown missiles at their building. The four of them were the only people in the building. There was no radio operator present.
The officers then released INQ 1940 and the private. They made their way back to their pig which was stationed with other Support Company vehicles. From there Company Sergeant Major 202 Lewis ordered INQ 1940 forward to a location where he was to wait for prisoners to be brought to him. He was then to escort the prisoners to the 4 tonne lorries and the Royal Military Police. Whilst waiting for the first prisoner there was a lull in the noise of the rioting and INQ 1940 said he heard what he believed to be a pistol shot. He also heard lots of other bangs which could have been baton rounds, SLR [self loading rifle] fire, or something else.
Soldier 26
2nd Lieutenant, 8 Platoon, C Company, 1st
Battalion Parachute Regiment
Made Statements to the Inquiry on 4 October 1999
[B1544] and the Royal Military Police on 4 February 1972 [1541]
Soldier 26 was in command of 8 platoon of C Company of 1 Para on 30 January 1972. He had never been to Derry before. There were between 22 and 24 men in 8 platoon. One man carried a radio tuned to the company network.
In the morning Soldier 26 and other C company platoon commanders were taken around William Street and Waterloo Place by a lieutenant from the Coldstream Guards. They also went up to an observation post on the city walls. They then returned to the forming up point at the Foyle College Car Park. There Colonel Wilford or Major 221A gave a further briefing. In his statement to the Inquiry Soldier 26 said arrests were an option whereas in evidence he said this was the primary purpose of the operation.
Soldier 26 denied having any particular feelings about the situation in Derry prior to Bloody Sunday. He did not share the feelings expressed by INQ 1334 in emotive terms in his statement, nor was he aware of the newspaper article to which INQ 1334 refers describing the soldiers resident in Derry as “beaten dogs”. He was not aware of strong feelings amongst men in his platoon disapproving of the ‘no go’ areas in Derry.
On the way into the city one of the platoon’s pigs [armoured vehicles] broke down causing them to be delayed. Consequently Soldier 26 did not witness the rioting in William Street. He did however hear shooting when in the area of barrier 14. The gunfire was to the west in the area of Rossville Street. By the time he got there the rest of C Company were going or about to go through barrier 14. He saw Major 221A who ordered his platoon through the barrier and down Chamberlain Street. Their role was to secure the left flank. He did not know what the other companies were doing but knew they were to the west.
Soldier 26 identified the soldiers in photograph P0253 as being part of his platoon. He specifically recognised INQ 2151, INQ 12 and INQ 579. He also knew the soldier with the night scope sight on his rifle but his cipher could not be determined immediately.
Going In
As he went through the barrier Soldier 26 could see debris and smell CS gas which indicated to him there had been a riot. At the top of Chamberlain Street he could see a crowd retreating down the street. In evidence he said the crowd were throwing stones but in his original statement he had said they were not. He agreed his 1972 statement must be correct. The next thing he saw was Father Daly coming up the street with people behind him carrying a body (Jackie Duddy). He sent INQ 1334 to check that the man being carried did not have a weapon. He did not call for an ambulance because the people did not want their assistance.
INQ 876 then drove the platoon pig into Chamberlain Street and Soldier 26 advanced with it towards the Rossville Flats car park. He ordered some of his men into the pig. At some point Major 221A joined him. When it got to the end of Chamberlain Street the pig was parked across the street to provide cover. When he got to the end of the street Soldier 26 could see two women crouching behind a small car in the car park. The car was directly in front of the end of Chamberlain Street so far as he recalled. They were obviously frightened. He sent two men to bring them to the safety of Chamberlain Street. Otherwise the car park was clear of people.
Gunfire
Soldier 26 said he did not hear any gunfire whilst in Chamberlain Street but that when he got to the end he heard shots. In his original statement he said he heard 20 to 30 shots which he believed to have come from an M1 Carbine and possibly a .303 rifle. However he now only recalls 2 to 3 shots. In evidence he said he was absolutely certain he heard an M1 but in 1972 he said he was almost certain. He said the shots seemed to come from the roof of Block 2 of the Rossville Flats but he did not see a gunman. The shots were not aimed at him. He reported the shots to Major 221A.
In his original statement Soldier 26 said the shots came from a position on the roof close to a lift housing however, since he was kneeling quite close to the flats, the angle at which he was looking made it impossible to see what was on the roof. Furthermore there was nothing on the aerial photographs of Block 2 which looked like a lift housing. He did not see the targets Soldier O claims to have fired at in Blocks 2 and 3 of the Rossville Flats. He claims he did not see Sergeant O firing from a position inside the car park, nor did he see any other soldier fire or any civilians shot.
33 Chamberlain Street
Soldier 26 said he felt there was insufficient cover at the end of the street so he pushed open the door to a house. He believed he had seen some of the crowd go into this house. Whilst he crouched in the doorway two or three men, including INQ 12, went in to check the occupants. He was not aware at that time that two injured people had been taken into the house. There were over 30 people in the house and Major 221A gave an order of the radio for those people to be detained. He was not aware of any mistreatment of prisoners and has never been aware that complaints were made. He specifically denied the allegations by Antoinette Coyle who was a volunteer with the Knights of Malta providing first aid. She said she approached soldiers at the end of Chamberlain Street asking them to call an ambulance for three people lying shot and injured in the Rossville Flats car park. She says the soldiers laughed and made her stand against a wall.
INQ 166
Private, C Company, 1st Battalion Royal
Anglian Regiment
Made Statement to the Inquiry [C0166]
INQ 166 had made a statement to the Inquiry about various events he witnessed whilst stationed at an observation post on the Derry city walls. However it emerged during questioning that the events he described could not have happened on 30 January 1972 since there was no march or large gathering of people on the day he was referring to. Consequently his evidence was of no assistance to the Inquiry and was not pursued.
Soldier 9
Lieutenant, 11 Sphinx Battery, 22nd Light
Air Defence Regiment
Made Statements to the Inquiry in 1999 [B1392.0001]
and to the RMP on 3 February 1972 [B1388]
Soldier 9 was a lieutenant on 30 January 1972 and was later promoted to the rank of colonel. On 30 January 1972 he was stationed at OP Echo, one of the two observation posts on the roof of the Embassy Ballroom. The OP consisted of a parapet around the roof. This was made up of sandbags and there were slots created in the sandbags to provide viewpoints. From various viewpoints Soldier 9 could see the junction of William Street/Little James Street/Rossville Street. To the south he could see down Chamberlain Street and parts of the Rossville Flats. He could also see Kells Walk, part of Glenfada Park and Lone Moor Road. There were other soldiers posted with him at the observation post and his role was to report what he saw over the radio to the 11 Sphinx Battery HQ in Victoria barracks.
Soldier 9 observed the march come up William Street and turn right into Rossville Street. At some point there was a transition from an orderly march into a riot. He remembered reporting that the peaceful civil-rights march had turned into the sort of riot they were used to seeing at the junction of Rossville Street/William Street. The rioting was not vicious. It was mainly stone throwing and was a type of sport for local people. Rubber bullets and CS gas must have been fired but Soldier 9 could not actually see the army barriers in William Street and Little James Street. He did not recall any nail bombs being thrown.
Paras Going In
Soldier 9 remembered hearing over the radio that the barriers were to be opened and the paras were to be deployed. He saw a pig moving at speed from Little James Street down Rossville Street. At some point he also saw a pig at the southern end of Chamberlain Street. He saw paras on foot moving south towards the Rossville Flats. He described the way in which the paras moved in some detail; one moving whilst another covered him with his rifle raised in the firing position. However he claims he did not see any of the paras shooting or anyone they shot.
He said he heard “chaos” by which he meant noise of vehicles, orders being shouted, rioters shouting and rubber bullets being fired. He referred to “a confused picture with the disciplined manoeuvre of the paras going through the middle of it.” He did not recall what happened to the crowd. He described “cracking of shooting” as the paras advanced. He did not know if this was high or low velocity gunfire. He did not count the rounds but there were bursts of perhaps 6-10 or 15-20 shots followed by a pause and then more firing.
Soldier 9 also said he heard the crack of a high velocity shot passing very close to his position on top of the Embassy Ballroom. He reported this over the radio and this report appears in the 11 Battery log [W0097] as being at 16:12. He had thought this was before the paras went in but they were sent in at 16:10. Soldier 9 thought the shot came from ground level but being on top of a building surrounded by other buildings made it very difficult to identify where the shot had come from.
Soldier 9 later saw civilians being marched with their hands on their heads north from the Rossville Flats. They were escorted by paras. The scene struck him as like prisoners of war being escorted. He said a peaceful march had descended into a war type situation. He was not surprised that people were killed as a result of sending highly trained infantry soldiers into a riot situation.
Soldier 21
Captain, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers,
Intelligence Officer attached to 22 Light Air Defence Regiment
Made Statements to the RMP on 4 February 1972 [B1501]
and this Inquiry on 13 September 2000 [B1509.0001]
Soldier 21 was sent to Derry as part of an advance party from the 22nd Light Air Defence Regiment (LADR) before their deployment in November 1971. Once the regiment arrived his role as Intelligence Officer was to brief LADR patrols and sections. Initially they were based at Drumahoe but they moved to the RUC Victoria barracks around January 1972. Much of his time was spent observing from the various observation posts, particularly OP Echo on the roof of the Embassy Ballroom. Soldier 21 also compiled wanted cards of known IRA suspects. These would be copied for soldiers to carry on the streets. At the time Martin McGuiness was suspected to be the head of the IRA in Derry. Other members of the LADR intelligence section included INQ 118 and INQ 836. Soldier 21 did not recall INQ 1270 who said he was the photographer attached to the unit. In his 1972 statement Soldier 21 refers to being with a photographer UNK 48 but he does not now recognise the name.
In 1999, before being interviewed by Eversheds for his statement to this Inquiry, Soldier 21 prepared a schedule of events which occurred during his time in Derry. He used press cuttings he had saved and other documents to create a chronological record of significant events. This is attached to his statement as Appendix 1 [see B1509.0008]. From these notes Soldier 21 recalled that loyalists were calling for the proposed civil rights march on 30 January 1972 to be stopped, threatening action if it were not.
Soldier 21 attended a briefing on 28 January 1972 given by his commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Ferguson. Soldier 21 believed Colonel Wilford was also there but he may have been mistaken about this.
On 30 January 1972 Soldier 21 visited the observation post on the city walls before taking up his position at OP Echo on the Embassy Ballroom. Rioting began in William Street after the main march turned down Rossville Street. He did not recall if UNK 48 took any photographs or what happened to them if he did. Soldier 21 took three photographs himself with a small pocket camera. He produced these to the Inquiry [B1509-0067 to 0069].
Gunfire
Soldier 21 described hearing a high velocity shot just after the paras went in. He heard the crack of the bullet as it passed his position. He believed it had come from the area of Meehan Square behind the Rossville Flats. He agreed a shot from that location would have to pass up Little James Street if fired in his direction suggesting it was about 100 metres away. However he insisted he did hear the supersonic crack as the bullet went past.
Shortly afterwards he heard more gunfire which he described as mixed shots of automatic fire overlaid with single high velocity shots. However he did not refer to machine gun fire in his original 1972 account. He radioed the LADR HQ to report the shooting however the log only recorded one report/shot. At the same time he could see paras moving into the Bogside on foot and in vehicles. He saw pigs move down Rossville Street and onto the waste ground in front of the Rossville Flats. He saw one vehicle hit a man who was standing in front of it. He heard shooting and saw paras aiming their rifles but claims he did not actually see any of them fire.
Soldier 21 said he did not see any civilian gunmen on Bloody Sunday and agreed he was in a good position to do so.
Arrests
After the shooting finished Soldier 21 saw Paras arresting people on the waste ground and bundling them into pigs.
Bodies
Soldier 21 said he had a distinct memory of seeing nine bodies but could not remember where he saw them. He did see three bodies being loaded into a pig near the rubble barricade at the south end of Rossville Street.
Soldier 21 heard from an RUC source and INQ 225 that some wounded people had been taken to a hospital across the border.
There was a regimental debriefing at about midnight and the atmosphere was pretty gloomy. There was shock at the 13 casualties. An RUC officer said the bodies had been identified and none was an IRA suspect. None were known to the police except one with a minor record. Soldier 21 also heard from an RUC source that tests revealed none of those shot had been handling guns.
Earlier Statements
Soldier 21 made a statement to the Royal Military Police on 3 February 1972. There is also a draft, unsigned statement attributed to him but which he denies making. He does recall prior to the Widgery Tribunal speaking to two people he understood to have been from the Treasury Solicitors but he said the draft statement has been “embellished.” He denies saying some of the things mentioned in the statement or having ever seen it prior to being interviewed by Eversheds for this Inquiry in 1999. He was not called to give evidence to the Widgery Tribunal. He denied he lied to the Treasury Solicitors in 1972 and could not account for the inaccuracies in that statement.
He also denied comments in his RMP statement were designed to excuse the conduct of the Paras. He had referred to people at the Rossville Street rubble barricade throwing missiles which struck the Paras several minutes before any shooting. He said 'several minutes' was a figure of speech and it should have been 'several seconds'. He also said in his opinion the rubble barricade was too high and thick for people behind it to have been shot by the Paras in front of them. In evidence he said he had no idea how the three people shot at this barricade had come to be killed.
For Peace Justice & Human Rights
