DAY WE CRIED FOR AMERICA
DAY WE CRIED FOR AMERICA
By JILLY BEATTIE
Heartbreaking memories of Omagh haunt thousands who pay silent tribute to those slaughtered in New York
SILENCE fell across Ireland yesterday as the country united to honour the thousands of men, women and children murdered in America.
In Omagh, people stood side by side, hand-in-hand at the town's garden of remembrance to acknowledge the Europe-wide three-minute silence.
The gathering was neither organised nor publicised, but scores of locals left their jobs and homes to walk to the garden.
And they shed tears as they stood in silence, the anguish of Tuesday's atrocity mingling with their ever-present grief for the 31 souls lost when the Real IRA bombed Omagh in 1998.
Michael Gallagher, who lost his son Aidan in the bomb three years ago, said terrorist attack on New York had left him shocked and tearful.
He said: "I have felt the despair the people of New York feel today.
"I didn't know if anyone else would be at the Garden of Remembrance but when I arrived there were many, many familiar faces.
"I went with my eldest daughter, Sharon, and we took a little American flag from Aidan's room - it's the only thing that's been taken from his bedroom since he died.
"I'd brought it back from Chicago for him a few years ago. We placed it in the soil and lit a little candle in front of it.
"The people of America never forgot the people of Omagh when our lives were blown apart by the Real IRA - and we will not forget them now. There is a great comfort in this collective support. Today the people of New York are where the people of Omagh were three years ago.
"We're still suffering and we'll suffer for many years to come, and tragically the people of New York will have the same problems - only on a much larger scale, an unthinkable scale.
"They're living through a nightmare of hopes - many of which will be dashed at the very last moment. I feel sick with grief for these people for I know what they're going through. That hope doesn't go away until it has been totally crushed.
"Even when I was sitting in the room next to where Aidan's body lay. I still had hope in my heart that it wouldn't be him.
"It was only in the moment that I physically saw my son that all hope was gone.
"And I know so many hundreds and thousands of people in New York are carrying the same hope in their hearts - no matter how futile it will prove for so many."
In the Republic, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and President Mary McAleese led an official day of mourning, which was marked with memorials throughout the country.
In Belfast, a Scottish soldier piped a lament in Ardoyne at a military vehicle buffer line between Protestant and Catholic streets.
Protestants suspended their two-week protest at the Catholic Holy Cross Primary School for the day.
Major Peter Copeland of the Scots Guards said: "The events in America have affected us all and this was just our little way of showing our respects." And in the city centre, tens of thousands of people walked to the City Hall.
At 11.11am all eyes were raised to the sky as a passenger plane flew over Belfast.
Thoughts were undoubtedly on the New York and Washington massacres.
Barbara Stephenson, the US consul general in Belfast, thanked the people of Northern Ireland for their support.
She said: "Anyone who has passed by the consulate will have seen the many bouquets of flowers that have been left.
"After seeing so many images this week that have filled me with grief and despair, the sight of those flowers with their handwritten notes fills me with an entirely different set of emotions.
"They convince me that the people of Belfast are capable of great compassion, of deep empathy, of a genuine ability to feel and share someone else's pain. Seeing those flowers and reading those notes give me hope."
By JILLY BEATTIE
Heartbreaking memories of Omagh haunt thousands who pay silent tribute to those slaughtered in New York
SILENCE fell across Ireland yesterday as the country united to honour the thousands of men, women and children murdered in America.
In Omagh, people stood side by side, hand-in-hand at the town's garden of remembrance to acknowledge the Europe-wide three-minute silence.
The gathering was neither organised nor publicised, but scores of locals left their jobs and homes to walk to the garden.
And they shed tears as they stood in silence, the anguish of Tuesday's atrocity mingling with their ever-present grief for the 31 souls lost when the Real IRA bombed Omagh in 1998.
Michael Gallagher, who lost his son Aidan in the bomb three years ago, said terrorist attack on New York had left him shocked and tearful.
He said: "I have felt the despair the people of New York feel today.
"I didn't know if anyone else would be at the Garden of Remembrance but when I arrived there were many, many familiar faces.
"I went with my eldest daughter, Sharon, and we took a little American flag from Aidan's room - it's the only thing that's been taken from his bedroom since he died.
"I'd brought it back from Chicago for him a few years ago. We placed it in the soil and lit a little candle in front of it.
"The people of America never forgot the people of Omagh when our lives were blown apart by the Real IRA - and we will not forget them now. There is a great comfort in this collective support. Today the people of New York are where the people of Omagh were three years ago.
"We're still suffering and we'll suffer for many years to come, and tragically the people of New York will have the same problems - only on a much larger scale, an unthinkable scale.
"They're living through a nightmare of hopes - many of which will be dashed at the very last moment. I feel sick with grief for these people for I know what they're going through. That hope doesn't go away until it has been totally crushed.
"Even when I was sitting in the room next to where Aidan's body lay. I still had hope in my heart that it wouldn't be him.
"It was only in the moment that I physically saw my son that all hope was gone.
"And I know so many hundreds and thousands of people in New York are carrying the same hope in their hearts - no matter how futile it will prove for so many."
In the Republic, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and President Mary McAleese led an official day of mourning, which was marked with memorials throughout the country.
In Belfast, a Scottish soldier piped a lament in Ardoyne at a military vehicle buffer line between Protestant and Catholic streets.
Protestants suspended their two-week protest at the Catholic Holy Cross Primary School for the day.
Major Peter Copeland of the Scots Guards said: "The events in America have affected us all and this was just our little way of showing our respects." And in the city centre, tens of thousands of people walked to the City Hall.
At 11.11am all eyes were raised to the sky as a passenger plane flew over Belfast.
Thoughts were undoubtedly on the New York and Washington massacres.
Barbara Stephenson, the US consul general in Belfast, thanked the people of Northern Ireland for their support.
She said: "Anyone who has passed by the consulate will have seen the many bouquets of flowers that have been left.
"After seeing so many images this week that have filled me with grief and despair, the sight of those flowers with their handwritten notes fills me with an entirely different set of emotions.
"They convince me that the people of Belfast are capable of great compassion, of deep empathy, of a genuine ability to feel and share someone else's pain. Seeing those flowers and reading those notes give me hope."
Further Information
Publisher: THE MIRROR
Ref: TM/136
Published Date: 15-Sep-01
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