OMAGH VICTIM'S MOUNTAIN TRIBUTE
Omagh victim's mountain tribute
By Martin Breen
AN Omagh bomb victim who helped erect a plaque to wartime plane crash victims on a Donegal mountain has had a memorial unveiled to him at the site.
The plaque in memory of Adrian Gallagher, who was killed in last August's atrocity, has been laid on the Bluestack Mountains where, 11 years ago, he put up a tribute to seven airmen killed when their plane crashed.
The 228 Squadron RAF unit had been on a wartime anti-U-Boat' strike operation along the French Coast on January 31, 1944, when they crashed into the peak of the mountain.
The sole surviving crew member of the tragedy, Squadron Leader Jim Gilchrist (75) recently revisited the area in memory of Adrian.
He was present in 1988 when Adrian, aged just 12, helped his father and others erect the plaque to Mr Gilchrist's dead colleagues.
Last week Mr Gilchrist climbed 2,000ft up to the crash site, at the same time as a group of climbers, led by Adrian's father Michael and close friend Gary Pentland.
The plaque in the 21-year-old mechanic's memory was set in granite boulder alongside that to the victims of the World War Two tragedy. Michael Gallagher said: "I was always interested in aircraft and I think Adrian just picked it up. He would go to air shows with me and crash sites. "His friend Gary Pentland also got him interested and it was really his idea about this plaque to Adrian.
"The trip up the mountain to place the plaque to him last week was a sort of pilgrimage for us. It was also one for Jim Gilchrist, as it was his first time up since the crash without his wife, who died earlier this year.
"It is really nice that Adrian is remembered in this way and I hope to bring the rest of the family up soon to see it."
He helped place the plaque in stone with Adrian's sister Cathy and best friend Michael Barrett, who was standing beside Adrian when he was killed in the Real IRA explosion.
They had gone into Omagh on August 15 last so Adrian could buy a new pair of boots and jeans.
His death was the second tragedy to hit the Gallaghers. In 1984 his uncle Hugh, a former part-time UDR soldier, was killed by the IRA.
By Martin Breen
AN Omagh bomb victim who helped erect a plaque to wartime plane crash victims on a Donegal mountain has had a memorial unveiled to him at the site.
The plaque in memory of Adrian Gallagher, who was killed in last August's atrocity, has been laid on the Bluestack Mountains where, 11 years ago, he put up a tribute to seven airmen killed when their plane crashed.
The 228 Squadron RAF unit had been on a wartime anti-U-Boat' strike operation along the French Coast on January 31, 1944, when they crashed into the peak of the mountain.
The sole surviving crew member of the tragedy, Squadron Leader Jim Gilchrist (75) recently revisited the area in memory of Adrian.
He was present in 1988 when Adrian, aged just 12, helped his father and others erect the plaque to Mr Gilchrist's dead colleagues.
Last week Mr Gilchrist climbed 2,000ft up to the crash site, at the same time as a group of climbers, led by Adrian's father Michael and close friend Gary Pentland.
The plaque in the 21-year-old mechanic's memory was set in granite boulder alongside that to the victims of the World War Two tragedy. Michael Gallagher said: "I was always interested in aircraft and I think Adrian just picked it up. He would go to air shows with me and crash sites. "His friend Gary Pentland also got him interested and it was really his idea about this plaque to Adrian.
"The trip up the mountain to place the plaque to him last week was a sort of pilgrimage for us. It was also one for Jim Gilchrist, as it was his first time up since the crash without his wife, who died earlier this year.
"It is really nice that Adrian is remembered in this way and I hope to bring the rest of the family up soon to see it."
He helped place the plaque in stone with Adrian's sister Cathy and best friend Michael Barrett, who was standing beside Adrian when he was killed in the Real IRA explosion.
They had gone into Omagh on August 15 last so Adrian could buy a new pair of boots and jeans.
His death was the second tragedy to hit the Gallaghers. In 1984 his uncle Hugh, a former part-time UDR soldier, was killed by the IRA.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0881
Published Date: 22-Jun-99
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