Lest we forget

Kit Johnston was just an ordinary ambulance man (if such a thing exists), attending accident victims and the urgently ill in the west of Ulster for over a quarter of a century irrespective of creed or colour. Kit had that optimistic and efficient manner typical of all who share his profession, north and south. His service to the people of west Ulster in 29 years was recognised with a British Empire Medal. I will always remember him for saving the sight in my left eye by driving me the 60 miles to Derry in just under an hour - and that was on 1970's roads.

Kit had the fatal misfortune, together with his wife and 9 others, to be standing beside the war memorial in Enniskillen on Remembrance Day 1987 when an IRA bomb ripped the heart out of the community in a way that, like Omagh, La Mon, Brighton and Bloody Sunday, will never be forgotten. It was ironically a scene of carnage and devastation, like those from which he used to rescue others, that Kit himself died amid unspeakable pain and confusion.

The Enniskillen Remembrance Day Bombing was one of the few terrorist crimes ever to draw an apology from Sinn Féin. (The above link also has a video conveying what happened that day).

A framed montage of the victims' photographs was put up by colleagues in the ambulance station at the Erne Hospital. Strangely, though, it was removed without comment last weekend. Remembrance Weekend.

What an affront to the memory of those who died. There's nothing political about the plaque, it's a simple aid to remembrance - and not just remembering the victims either. The really important aspect of such memorials is that they remind us all of what was done in the name of Irish nationalism and that no aspiration - political or otherwise - is important enough to merit barbarism of that kind, to any one. Let's be Big and remember that.

Let's not forget.