MY HOME TOWN
My Home Town
After nearly 40 years in journalism, it remains the most difficult article I have ever had to write
by Neil Johnston
I still remember, as clearly as if it was yesterday, how I heard the awful news.
We had been away all day on a happy family outing to Co. Antrim. The car radio had never been switched on.
When we drove back into Belfast that Saturday evening I stopped off at our local service station to buy an Ireland's Saturday Night.
There, I found myself staring in disbelief at the headlines about what had happened that day in my home town.
I had told the others to go on home and I would walk the rest of the way.
When I got there, I knew immediately by their stricken looks that they had now heard about it too. The phone had not stopped ringing.
First, I called relations and friends in Omagh and confirmed that none of them had been caught in the bomb.
They told me horror stories of what they had seen and heard that day, images which I will never forget.
There was the man who cycled into town to find out what had happened and do what he could to help.
When he came home, he didn't even take a seat. He sat on the kitchen floor, weeping, his head between his hands.
He tells them how he saw the bodies of women lying across those of children they had instinctively tried to protect.
After hours of treating the injured at the hospital, a doctor returns home. It is only then he breaks down uncontrollably into the tears which he has kept professionally at bay for so long.
These, and other horrific cameos, I include the following Monday in a piece for this newspaper about the obscenity which has been committed in my beloved home town.
After nearly 40 years in journalism, it remains the most difficult and heart rending article I have ever had to write.
Shortly afterwards, we invited the distinguished Omagh born author Benedict Kiely to record his thoughts about the atrocity.
One of the phrases he used will stay with me forever � "I am lost and weeping in sunlit memories." I knew what he meant, for so was I.
After nearly 40 years in journalism, it remains the most difficult article I have ever had to write
by Neil Johnston
I still remember, as clearly as if it was yesterday, how I heard the awful news.
We had been away all day on a happy family outing to Co. Antrim. The car radio had never been switched on.
When we drove back into Belfast that Saturday evening I stopped off at our local service station to buy an Ireland's Saturday Night.
There, I found myself staring in disbelief at the headlines about what had happened that day in my home town.
I had told the others to go on home and I would walk the rest of the way.
When I got there, I knew immediately by their stricken looks that they had now heard about it too. The phone had not stopped ringing.
First, I called relations and friends in Omagh and confirmed that none of them had been caught in the bomb.
They told me horror stories of what they had seen and heard that day, images which I will never forget.
There was the man who cycled into town to find out what had happened and do what he could to help.
When he came home, he didn't even take a seat. He sat on the kitchen floor, weeping, his head between his hands.
He tells them how he saw the bodies of women lying across those of children they had instinctively tried to protect.
After hours of treating the injured at the hospital, a doctor returns home. It is only then he breaks down uncontrollably into the tears which he has kept professionally at bay for so long.
These, and other horrific cameos, I include the following Monday in a piece for this newspaper about the obscenity which has been committed in my beloved home town.
After nearly 40 years in journalism, it remains the most difficult and heart rending article I have ever had to write.
Shortly afterwards, we invited the distinguished Omagh born author Benedict Kiely to record his thoughts about the atrocity.
One of the phrases he used will stay with me forever � "I am lost and weeping in sunlit memories." I knew what he meant, for so was I.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0910
Published Date: 15-Aug-03
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