But Duff was not just any old Spartan who no matter what difficult circumstances they endured always had company in abundance. It might have been out of sight and locked up in another part of the same wing but it was there. Being 'three year’ men Duff along with three others had to do a considerable portion of their protest isolated in B Wing Crumlin Road Jail.
In republican lexicon ‘the men behind the wire’ referred to the internees. There was even a popular song composed of which that was the title. In blanket history ‘the men behind the wire’ were those held in B Wing in cells that were caged in. Jimmy Duff knew what it was like to be a man behind the wire in both sets of circumstances. A former internee his second spell behind the wire was considerably more arduous than the first. The Blanket men of B Wing the Crum endured a lonely experience as the jail administration sought to break their spirits through the application of intense deprivation. One of his fellow blanket men from the time commented:
The screws kept us in solitary confinement and made us slop out or go to the toilet naked as they tried to break our spirits. They refused us showers and did everything to stop us talking to each other. All through that period, Jimmy, who was our O/C, was an inspiration.
When they were eventually moved up to the H Blocks circa late 1978, despite the severity of the conditions and the harshness of the regime, it was a relief to them. There was company and with 300 protestors there was a statistically lower chance of the screws focussing in on any one particular individual.
That’s how I met Jimmy Duff. He was at the bottom of our wing in H Block 4. Although about ten years older than the rest of his fellow prisoners he went about the protest with the gusto of a teenager. When released this IRA volunteer campaigned tirelessly at home and abroad on behalf of the men who were left behind.
After the killing of Joe O’Connor in Ballymurphy which saw me seriously at odds with those who either defended the killing or out of some sense of loyalty decided it was ‘my movement right or wrong’ I experienced considerable ostracism and hostility. When I bumped into Duff in Castle Street a month after the killing he laughed and said ‘where have you been hiding?’ Whatever views he held he never joined the ranks of the ostracisers. On one occasion coming through a lane close to where I lived Duff and a friend moved into single file to let me pass. It avoided the nonsense of shouldering or jostling. The first ignored me while Duff silently mouthed ‘hello’ and smiled. It was interesting to see how he handled it and kept both I and the shunner onside.
Duff despite being a quiet type of man was hugely popular. In his final days his old comrades from ‘the Murph’ were at his bedside tending to his needs. When they buried him his other old comrades from behind the wire fittingly formed the guard of honour. One of those, Sinn Fein MLA Fra McCann also gave the oration. He summed Duff up pretty well in saying: ‘it would be fair to say that in all my dealings with people over the years, when Duff’s name came up in conservation, I never heard anyone having a bad word to say about him.’
When Jimmy Duff died he was 62. In a year or two nobody who participated in the blanket will be younger than 50. Time is running out for them. Into the valley of death ride the 300.
Lovely piece Anthony, we got a glimpse of the man, not the legend and we are all the better for that.
ReplyDeleteMick